"Fantastic Beasts 3" will be released earlier than expected The film, called "Dumbledore's Secret," has been moved up to an April 2022 release

The next film in the "Fantastic Beasts" series has changed the cast of Grindelbard from Johnny Depp to Mads Mikkelson The rest of the cast returns, including Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander and Jude Law as Albus Dumbledore

"Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 3" follows the first film in 2016 and "The Crimes of Grindelbard" in 2018 The franchise follows the adventures of Newt and his magical friends in the world of "Harry Potter," decades before the "living boy" discovers he is a wizard

The spin-off was a success, grossing nearly $15 billion worldwide And it proved that the Harry Potter universe could be extended beyond the film adaptations of the original book series

Here is what we know so far about "Fantastic Beasts 3: Dumbledore's Secret"

The current release date for "Fantastic Beasts 3" is April 15, 2022

This means that approximately three and a half years have passed since the second film, The Crimes of Grindelbard

The film's original release date was November 12, 2021 However, due to Warner Bros changing the casting of Depp, as well as a coronavirus pandemic, the studio pushed the release date back to July 15, 2022 Warner Bros then moved it up to Easter weekend

The cast of Fantastic Beasts 3: Dumbledore's Secret is led by Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander, a British Ministry of Magic employee in the Department of Magical Creatures Control's Beasts Division

Jude Law also stars as young Albus Dumbledore, played by Richard Harris and Michael Gambon in the Harry Potter films Law's version is a professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

New cast member Mats Mikkelsen joins as Gellert Grindelbard More about him below

Other "Fantastic Beasts 3" cast members include:

"Fantastic Beasts 3" has a new cast member as Gellert Grindelvald The dark wizard will be played by Mats Mikkelsen, the Danish actor and former gymnast best known in the United States for starring in the "Hannibal" series He was recently nominated for a BAFTA for "Another Round," which won the International Film Award at the 2021 Academy Awards

Mikkelsen replaces Johnny Depp, who lost a libel suit and was asked to step down by Warner Bros Depp sued the British tabloid The Sun as a "wife-beater" after his divorce from Amber Heard

Depp resigned at the request of Warner Bros after filming one scene as Grindelbard According to The Hollywood Reporter, he will be paid his full salary to fulfill the terms of his contract

Mikkelsen told GamesRadar about taking over the role, "Obviously, I was only in it half the time of the other guys It was a great experience I think they had a really great script"

Mikkelsen knows a thing or two about following other actors and making a character his own It's not easy to play Hannibal after Anthony Hopkins

"This is obviously the next film, so it's a more direct comparison," Mikkelsen explains 'So we've built some bridges to make it recognizable, but we've also said we have to make it our own I've been a fan of Johnny Depp since I was young, and I can't try to bring his intensity and his way of doing things into my work His way is unique, so I have to find my own way

Not much is known about the plot of "Fantastic Beasts 3," but cast member Dan Fogler revealed in an interview that the film is partly set in Brazil He also revealed that the film is set in 1939, before World War II

The first film was set in New York City in 1926 and the second film was set primarily in Paris in 1927 If "Fantastic Beasts 3" is set in 1939, that's quite a time-slip However, the franchise would have to go to 1945, the year of the infamous duel between Grindelbald and Dumbledore

"The Crimes of Grindelbald" ended with the dark wizard using the horrors of a world war to gather more followers Two of those followers are Queen and Credence (for different reasons) In addition to this, one of Newt's Niffler friends stole the blood pact between Dumbledore and Grindelbald

Based on this, "Fantastic Beasts 3" could show that Grindelbald has amassed considerable power over the course of five or six years, and has even stoked fear to World War II He may have been behind the rise of Hitler and the Nazis Meanwhile, Newt and his friends may be seen searching the world for a blood pact so that Dumbledore can be freed from it and finally duel Grindelbald