The trailer for Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore premiered on Monday, giving us our first look at Mads Mikkelsen as Gellert Grindelwald. Mikkelsen took over the role after Depp was fired in November of 2020 when he lost a defamation lawsuit related to his alleged physical abuse of his ex-wife. Depp’s fans were upset by the new trailer, and many vowed to boycott this movie.
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore is facing an uphill battle between the recasting of Grindelwald, the outcry against author J.K. Rowling’s transphobic comments, and the lukewarm critical response to the first two movies. Since the last installment of this Harry Potter spinoff franchise came out, Rowling has become fiercely outspoken against transgender rights. By contrast, she wrote a blog post defending Depp as recently as 2017 despite allegations that he has physically abused his ex-wives and neglected his daughter.
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Still, the promise of a boycott could not keep the new trailer out of the trending topics. Fans compared what little they could see of Mikkelsen’s performance to that of Depp, debating which of them brought more to the franchise. Others chimed in frequently to say that it didn’t matter since they didn’t like the first two movies overall to begin with. Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore premieres on April 15, 2022. Read on for a look at how Depp’s fans are feeling so far.
‘Our’ Grindelwald
Some members of the fandom simply declined to recognize Mikkelsen as Grindelwald, or this new movie as a part of the same story. For them, the franchsie ends here.
Relevant
One fan adapted Grindelwald’s villainous monologue from the end of the second movie into a call to arms for a boycott, ignoring the evil connotations of the original speech. Most commenters joined in unironically.
Show Stealer
Depp’s fans took some satisfaction in the fact that his name landed on the trending topics list alongside the title of the movie.
Aesthetic
Fans put photos of Depp’s eccentric take on Grindelwald side-by-side with the new shots of Mikkelsen, mourning the loss of the original villain. While Depp wore his tie inside his shirt, discolored one eye, spiked his hair and wore pale makeup, Mikkelsen is simply dressed for the era.
‘Aquaman 2’
Depp’s fans also renewed their calls to boycott the next Aquaman movie, where Depp’s ex-wife Amber Heard will be reprising her role as Mera. They believe it is hypocritical of the studio to fire Depp but not Heard, since she participated in their physical altercations as well.
Mikkelsen
Many fans clarified their hatred for this movie by saying that they are still fond of Mikkelsen. The actor did not impugn Depp when he took over this role, saying that he had been a big fan of Depp’s work.
Boycott
Finally, many people were put off by the calls for a boycott that only mentioned Depp, and not Rowling’s bigotry. Others felt like the key point was that the first two movies were simply not that good.
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