Take this with a grain of whatever magical ingredient you have on hand, because this is a super rumor from a site we're not too sure on, but there have been rumblings of Johnny Depp / Grindelwald news for sometime.
Specifically, according to a report from The Blast, that the Pirates of the Caribbean star does NOT have a contract in place for his involvement for the upcoming 3rd installment of the Harry Potter spinoff franchise, Fantastic Beasts. In 'Beasts, Depp plays Grindelwald, the Wizarding World's most vile of wand-wielders, and the source a global effort to wipe all non-magic users from the globe.
A source close to Johnny Depp tell The Blast he has not yet been approached by Warner Bros. to exercise the option in his contract for the third "Fantastic Beasts" flick, which has been given a release date of Nov. 12, 2021.
Following continued allegations about Depp's treatment of ex-wife Amber Heard, his presence in the film's second chapter took a back seat, especially after the reception of Depp in full character makeup and costume at San Diego Comic Con 2018 during the Warner Bros. Pictures panel. We heard the crowd booing him, as he made a poor attempt at copying Tom Hiddleston's command of Hall H as Loki from years before. Also, Heard was part of the panel proceedings as well, with her co-starring in WB's Aquaman. It seemed like a poorly thought out line-up, all things considered.
Obviously, we don't know if this report is accurate or not, and WB just recently confirmed a production schedule and release date for Fantastic Beasts 3. We'll let you know what we hear.