LONDRES, United Kingdom — Hollywood star Johnny Depp announced that he had agreed to resign from his role as Gellert Grindelwald in the Harry Potter franchise spin-off "Fantastic Beasts" at the request of Warner Bros.
"I have respected and agreed to that request," he said. The US film studio confirmed that Depp would be stepping down from the film.
"Johnny Depp will depart the Fantastic Beasts franchise. We thank Johnny for his work on the films to date," the studio said in a statement.
"Fantastic Beasts 3 is currently in production, and the role of Gellert Grindelwald will be recast. The film will debut in theatres worldwide in the summer of 2022," it added.
The contested article in British tabloid newspaper The Sun had questioned wither Harry Potter author JK Rowling could be "genuinely happy" Depp had been cast in the "Fantastic Beasts" films given his reputation as a wife-beater.
On Monday, the 57-year-old "Pirates of the Caribbean" actor lost a libel lawsuit against the publishers of The Sun, which had called him a "wife beater".
Depp is also suing ex-wife Amber Heard in a separate case in the United States for an article she wrote in the Washington Post, which he said implied he was violent towards her.