Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them director David Yates tells Digital Spy that Johnny Depp will bring "enormous humour" and "magic" to the Harry Potter prequel series.
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Depp has a cameo in the first Fantastic Beasts movie as Gellert Grindelwald, the dark wizard responsible for igniting the infamous magic war across Europe.
At the UK premiere of Fantastic Beasts tonight (November 15), Yates opened up about involving a bona fide Hollywood legend in the next phase of the Potter series.
(Yvonne Walcott and David Yates)
"Johnny's such a charismatic, wonderful actor and a lovely human being to have around, actually," Yates told us. "On the set, he brought enormous humour and grace - and a bit of magic of his own because he's a movie star.
"He's very down to earth. It was a wonderful day of filming - we only filmed for a day for this movie. He's in the next movies much, much more. We all just had a wonderful impression of a great artist, who was passionate about doing good work in this world."
Yates also looked ahead at where Newt Scamander's (Eddie Redmayne) magical adventures bring him in Fantastic Beasts 2, which moves from New York to Europe.
"We know the next one's set in Paris because Jo [Rowling] has delivered a wonderful script," he told us, before teasing: "[The sequels are] going to be a surprise for everybody - including us as filmmakers!
"I like the idea of not telling people too much. Jo's kind of developing it, arcing out all of the different character journeys. I think it's very ambitious what she's planning."
In addition to unleashing the magic war on the European continent, Fantastic Beasts sequels will also explore the early years of Hogwarts headmaster Dumbledore.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them invites us back to the wizarding world on November 18, with four more sequels directed by Yates to follow over the next several years.
Watch the cast chat to Digital Spy below:
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Justin is a freelance entertainment journalist and writer. He first joined Digital Spy as a freelance entertainment reporter in 2010 and also worked as a sub-editor for the brand, serving as Night News Editor from 2016 to 2024. Over more than a decade, Justin has covered numerous major entertainment events from the US and has interviewed a wide-ranging group of public figures, from comedian Steve Coogan to icons from the Star Trek universe, cast members from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and reality stars from numerous Real Housewives cities and the Below Deck franchise. Justin has also been on the ground to cover major pop culture events like the Star Wars Celebration and the D23 Expo. He's written for titles across the Hearst network, plus the likes of CBR and Us Weekly.
