We Love Mads Mikkelsen, But It's Time For Real Grindelwald's Comeback

Because of the controversy surrounding the marriage of Johnny Depp and Amber Herd that involved mutual accusations of domestic abuse, Warner Bros. made a very unpopular decision: they removed Johnny Depp from his role as Grindelwald in the Fantastic Beasts franchise.

Johnny played Grindelwald in the first two movies and was borderline the only silver lining in them, according to the fans.

Soon after the news about Warner Bros. kicking Johnny Depp out amid the lawsuit, it was revealed that Mads Mikkelsen would take his place.

While the franchise's fans didn't hate on him (and many of them really loved his Grindelwald vibe), they were fuming because of the Depp situation.

"No hate on Mads Mikkelsen but Johnny Depp will always be my Gellert Grindelwald," said Twitter user __mafs, and they relayed this message far more politely than many others.

Mads Mikkelsen's performance in the third part of Fantastic Beasts was amazing.

Meanwhile, Johnny Depp was cleared of all charges and proven innocent in court.

Now, there are talks about what the next movie is going to be like — if it's going to come out at all, considering The Secrets of Dumbledore's poor performance.

Fans are specifically interested to learn whether Johnny will be brought back to play the antagonist again. Mads Mikkelsen also addressed this issue while speaking at the Sarajevo Film Festival.

When asked about his own return to the role of Grindelwald, Mads sounded uncertain.

"I think I am. <...> I guess if they want me to finish the job, they need Grindelwald back," the actor said.

The fans are divided on the matter: while some say that Mads' performance was amazing (which it was) and he should stay, others demand Johnny back.

It seems that the latter group is at least more passionate about it if not straight-up larger.

"So tired of opening this app and not seeing news about Johnny Depp's return as Grindelwald," claimed Depps_Kingdom on Twitter.

They are far from alone.

Mads himself thinks that Depp "might" return to the role, too.

"Let's see if he comes back. He might. I'm a big fan of Johnny. I think he's an amazing actor, I think he did a fantastic job," Mikkelsen said at the festival.

The actor also revealed how stressful it was for him to take over Grindelwald after Johnny.

"I could not copy it. There was no way I could just copy it because it's so much him. It would be creative suicide. <...> So, yes, it was intimidating," he shared.

After all the controversy, it doesn't seem like there's a canon-friendly solution to this issue: Mads took over right after the second movie firmly established Grindelwald's real appearance which was Johnny's.

Then again, switching back after the third movie would also look weird — but that can at least be justified by, well, magic?..

But the entire back-and-forth situation was wrong, to begin with, and for all the wrong reasons. Fans claim that Mads Mikkelsen did a phenomenal job, but bringing Johnny back will be at least just.

It won't fix the damage done to the franchise or Depp himself, but it would still be nice to have him back.