Johnny Depp has revealed that Warner Bros. pressured him to “retire” from the Fantastic Beasts franchise in the wake of his high-profile libel case.
While conversing with The Telegraph, the Pirates of the Caribbean star opened up about his latest directorial effort, Modi: Three Days on the Wing of Madness.
He also reflected on when he was portraying the character Gellert Grindelwald in the Fantastic Beasts movies, saying that "literally stopped in a millisecond, like, while I was doing the movie," in the fall of 2020.
"They said we’d like you to resign. But what was really in my head was they wanted me to retire," Depp told the outlet.
In November 2020, Depp stepped down as Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts after losing his libel case against The Sun, which had labeled him a "wife-beater."
"I wish to let you know that I have been asked to resign by Warner Bros. from my role as Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts and I have respected and agreed to that request," Depp said at the time.
Depp responded on being pushed out of the role, he stated, “F--- you. There’s far too many of me to kill. If you think you can hurt me more than I’ve already been hurt you’re gravely mistaken.”
The Alice In Wonderland actor debuted as Grindelwald in 2016's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a Harry Potter spinoff starring Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander.
The trilogy (2016–2022) followed Newt’s encounters with Grindelwald and Dumbledore’s (Jude Law) efforts to stop him in the 1920s–30s.
