Fantastic Beasts: Johnny Depp will no longer play Grindelwald

Actor Johnny Depp has left the Fantastic Beasts film franchise, and will no longer play the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald.

Depp wrote a letter to fans saying he had been asked to resign from the role and he said he "respected that and agreed to that request".

It's after he lost a court case over claims he was violent towards his wife Amber Heard.

Film studio Warner Bros, who make the Fantastic Beast films, thanked Depp for his work and said the role of Gellert Grindelwald will be recast for Fantastic Beasts 3.

The new movie is currently in production and is planned to come out in summer 2022, instead of November 2021.

Johnny Depp and Amber Heard attended the trial in London in July

Earlier in November 2020, a High Court judge has ruled that actor Johnny Depp subjected his ex-wife to domestic abuse on twelve occasions.

The actor, who also starred in the Pirates of the Caribbean films, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Alice in Wonderland, had taken a newspaper to court because it published a story saying he had hit his wife, Amber Heard.

Depp denied he assaulted his wife and accused the newspaper of committing libel against him - that is a legal term for when someone publishes something untrue that may make people think badly of the person in question.

However, the judge found the claims in the Sun newspaper were "substantially true".