The resignation of Johnny Depp from his role as Gellert Grindelwald in Fantastic Animals is no surprise to anyone after the controversy surrounding his divorce from actress Amber Heard, where he was accused of exercising physical violence on his ex-wife.

Given these facts, the Warner Bros company decided to hire the Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen to play one of the most powerful dark wizards in the Harry Potter universe. The third installment of the saga “The secrets of Dumbledore” will be the premiere of Mads in the magical world, so the eyes of all the Potterheads will be on him and his performance in order to evaluate his performance.

But who is Mads Mikkelsen?

Mads Mikkelsen is a Danish actor born on November 22, 1965, in Copenhagen, Denmark. He made his acting debut in 1996 in the movie “Pusher”, then he starred in different Danish films such as Blinkende Lyster, and De Grønne Slagter. In 2003, Mads achieved his first leading role on the big screen with the movie “I love you forever” (Open hearts).

In 2004 comes the opportunity to reach Hollywood with the film “King Arthur” directed by Jerry Bruckheimer. In 2006, the actor managed to play Le Chiffre, the villain of the James Bond movie Casino Royale.

His great performance in 2012 for the movie “Jagten” makes him win a Cannes for best actor. In 2013, he stars in a period drama film called “A Royal Affair” which earns him a Golden Globe and Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. He was also nominated for Best Actor at the Cesar Awards.

The change of actor for the role of Gellert Grindelwald generated controversy among Potterheads, who questioned his participation in the Fantastic Beasts saga. The topic of discussion on social networks has escalated so much that many of them disapprove of Warner Bros’ decision and are even willing not to see the new movie.

But how about Mads as Grinderwald?

Before we start with our opinion on the performance of the Danish actor as the dark magician, you should know that there will be spoilers for the movie.
Without a doubt, Mads Mikkelsen had a great challenge in having to play a character whom we had already visualized with the performance of Jonny Depp, but he overcame it by understanding the importance of Grindelwald in the magical world.

We went from having an eccentric and even musical interpretation through Depp to having an actor who lands his character with elegance and strength. A complete revolution – in every sense of the word.

Despite the fact that Depp had two films to develop the personality of Gellert, Mads did not leave behind what had already been worked on, which is the strength of the character on camera. The looks of both actors are essential to understand the importance not only of Grinderwarld in the world of magic but also in the development of the story of Albus Dumbledore.

Something that could cause high or low expectations in Potterheads is the relationship and harmony with Jude Law, who plays a young Dumbledore. The outcome of that connection could depend on the continuation of a well-developed story.

In “The Crimes of Grindelwald” Depp and Law did not have much face-to-face interaction -or at least not what we expected knowing that Albus is in love with Gellert-, which does happen in “The Secrets of Dumbledore”.

Not coincidentally, the first scene of the film is a love talk between Gellert and Albus; Despite the tension that is experienced in those moments of the film is great, the interpretation of both allows us to understand why the director of Hogwarts sacrifices his family for Grindelwald.

Not only will we have to look at Mads’ performance when he’s with Jude; the importance of Grindelwald in this film will be essential for its development. Mikkelsen does an exceptional job of understanding that the wizard is not only Albus’ adversary but also a leader who wants to change the thinking of the wizarding world and with it, the development of it.

This speech that JK Rowling created in the books about this magician, Mads brings it to the big screen in a subtle but powerful way. Not for nothing can we compare Grindelwald with a certain historical figure who changed the history of Germany; It is not for nothing that there are certain flashes in the film that remind us of aspects of world history.

The production knew of the importance of generating a new image of Grindelwald for obvious reasons; their best success was understanding that they couldn’t get the same character played by another person, so they created one where Mikkelsen felt comfortable and could show that despite the changes, the essence of a character can be maintained.

The relationship with other characters flows within the film. Perhaps that was another reason for the delay in the release by Warner Bros, they were cooking what seems to be a Gellert Grinderwarld with a lot of personalities and with Mads Mikkelsen under him.

If we were asked which of the two is our favorite, the decision would be difficult, but Mikkelsen narrowly takes first place due to the circumstances in which he created his character. Filling the shoes of an actor like Johnny Depp is not done by anyone.