Johnny Depp set for Fantastic Beasts role

Depp was seen earlier this year as The Mad Hatter in Alice Through the Looking Glass

Johnny Depp is set to have a role in the second Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them film, due out in 2018.

It has been reported that the Pirates of the Caribbean actor will also have a brief cameo in the first film, a spin-off from the Harry Potter Franchise.

It is not yet known what role Depp will play in the fantasy series, which will revolve around a fictional author mentioned in the Harry Potter stories.

The first Fantastic Beasts film opens in the UK and US on 18 November.

Eddie Redmayne (centre) plays the lead role of Newt Scamander in the Fantastic Beasts film

Depp is known for playing Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean series, which will continue next year with a fifth instalment.

The 53-year-old was seen earlier this year reprising his role as The Mad Hatter in Alice Through the Looking Glass, a sequel to 2010's Alice in Wonderland.

Last month Harry Potter creator JK Rowling revealed she had planned scripts for a total of five Fantastic Beasts films.

Meanwhile, it has been revealed that Holliday Grainger has joined the cast of a TV series based on Rowling's Robert Galbraith crime novels.

Holliday Grainger was seen earlier this year in Coast Guard drama The Finest Hours

The British actress will play Robin, the assistant to private detective Cormoran Strike, in the BBC One adaptation, which is set to begin shooting this month.

Rowling, who has written three novels under her Robert Galbraith pseudonym, said she "couldn't be more delighted" about Grainger's casting.

Grainger, who appeared earlier this year in Coast Guard drama The Finest Hours, said her character's "strength and intelligence" would be "a joy to explore".

War and Peace actor Tom Burke will play Strike in the seven hour-long dramas to be drawn from Rowling's Career of Evil, The Silkworm and The Cuckoo's Calling books.