Warner Bros. Freaking Out Over Having Johnny Depp In Fantastic Beasts 3

Is the Fantastic Beasts prequel series already starting to run out of fuel?

That’s the question that’s been raised by many people lately after the disappointing performance – both at the box office and with critics – of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.

It’s the second installment in Warner Bros.’ star-studded prequel series, one which brought us a whole treasure chest of overt callbacks to the Harry Potter franchise of old. It turns out that its heavy lean on the nostalgia factor wasn’t enough to get audiences and critics on board though, as the film currently sits at 37% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Still, the studio hasn’t lost faith yet and will continue on with Fantastic Beasts 3. We don’t know much about the threequel at the moment, but a new report from The Post alleges that WB is “freaking out” over having Johnny Depp in the film, given all the controversy that currently surrounds the actor.

“Executives at Warner Bros. are wondering how to deal with the backlash of the Depp matter on the Harry Potter franchise,” says The Post. “High-level female execs at the studio are extremely worried about working with Depp and the message it sends to the public, especially after the recent sordid departure of CEO Kevin Tsujihara. […] This is yet another blow to the morale of female employees at the studio. If Warner Bros. continues to stick by Depp, it would reveal a lot about the values the company holds.”

So, it looks like Warner Bros. is in a tricky spot right now and we’re unsure if they’re legally able to cut Depp from the film, or even if that’s something that they’d consider. As the storm swirling around him continues to grow though, it’ll definitely be hard to market Fantastic Beasts 3 with the Pirates of the Caribbean star holding such a large role in it.

Not to mention the fact that the threequel absolutely has to improve on the last film. Otherwise, the entire series could fall flat on its face. In other words, things aren’t looking too good for Fantastic Beasts 3 at the moment, but we’ll no doubt start to learn more in the months to come in regards to what Warner Bros. plans to do to turn things around, so be sure to stay tuned.