CANNES, FRANCE: Mads Mikkelsen, who replaced Johnny Depp as Grindelwald in the 'Fantastic Beasts' series, had a charming exchange with the American actor at the Cannes Film Festival. The Danish actor met the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' star earlier this week at the opening of Johnny Depp's new film 'Jeanne du Barry' at the French festival.

Mikkelsen shared a picture of them having a private conversation and captioned it, "Grindelwald and Grindelwald." After Depp was asked to leave the 'Harry Potter' spinoff in 2020 over domestic abuse allegations, Mikkelsen took over from the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' star. Following his unsuccessful libel lawsuit against The Sun, Depp's contract with Warner Bros. was terminated.

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Judge deemed claims to be 'substantially true'

The actor was allegedly aggressive toward his ex-wife Amber Heard, and Judge Andrew Nicol deemed these claims to be "substantially true." After Warner Bros' decision, the 59-year-old said he agreed to the request before stating that he intended to keep fighting to establish his innocence.

He said on Instagram, “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," as reported by Guardian.

Depp's comments followed a statement from the studio thanking him for his contributions and announcing his departure. They said, "Johnny Depp will depart the Fantastic Beasts franchise. We thank Johnny for his work on the films to date. Fantastic Beasts 3 is currently in production, and the role of Gellert Grindelwald will be recast. The film will debut in theaters worldwide in the summer of 2022."

'Obviously, there was a situation that had to be solved overnight'

The actor had been replaced in 'Fantastic Beasts 3' by Mikkelsen, according to IndieWire's story in the subsequent weeks. In a 2022 interview with GQ ahead of the film's release, the Danish actor recalled what it was like stepping into the role after Depp's high-profile exit. He explained, "Obviously, there was a situation that had to be solved overnight…They were just panicking." But Mikkelsen diverged from Depp's interpretation after he was cast as the evil wizard. He added, “To copy him would be creative suicide…We had to make it our own." Additionally, he implied that if Depp and the film studio wanted, there may be potential for him to return to the franchise, as reported by Unilad.