Yes, Johnny Depp Is In The ‘Fantastic Beasts 2’ Trailer & No, Fans Are NOT Here For It

Accio uproar. The new Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald trailer just came out and Harry Potter fans are up in arms — or wands — over Johnny Depp in the Fantastic Beasts 2 trailer. Depp plays the titular Grindelwald, and the casting has caused quite the controversy among the HP community. When his character was announced in November of 2017, fans were enraged that Depp, who was accused of domestic violence, was involved with the children's books series.

As you probably remember, Depp's ex-wife's Amber Heard alleged that the actor had committed domestic violence during their divorce — which resulted in Depp agreeing to a $7 million settlement in 2016. Following the divorce, Heard and Depp released a joint statement that said, "there was never an intent of physical or emotional harm."

Despite Depp's denial that he caused physical harm to his ex-wife, the very existence of the accusations in the first place had many of his fans turning against the actor who now plays Gellert Grindelwald. After the new trailer came out on March 13, Hogwarts heads took to Twitter to sort out their mixed feelings about the upcoming Fantastic Beasts installment. The trailer puts many fans in a moral quandary, leaving many asking themselves what Harry would do.

Even though Depp only appears in the Fantastic Beasts trailer for less than a full second, that was enough to turn people against the entire film.

In a way, the trailer makes the second Fantastic Beasts film seem like Depp's character doesn't have a big presence in the movie at all. But considering the title is Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, the flick is very much about Grindelwald — and Depp will probably appear in the movie for longer than half a millisecond. Plus, it's impossible for the Fantastic Beasts sequel to avoid featuring the villain because the first movie of the series ended on a cliffhanger revolving around Dumbledore's rival. The Magical Congress of the United States of America (MACUSA) accused Newt Scamander — played by Eddie Redmayne — of working with Grindelwald. After that, the MACUSA captured Grindelwald, but the highly skilled wizard escaped, leaving a young Dumbledore — played by Jude Law — and Newt with the task of finding the rogue wizard.

After the initial uproar over Depp's casting took place, J.K. Rowling posted a comment on her website that since disappeared. A part of the author's statement read,

The huge, mutually supportive community that has grown up around Harry Potter is one of the greatest joys of my life. For me personally, the inability to speak openly to fans about this issue has been difficult, frustrating and at times painful. However the agreements that have been put in place to protect the privacy of two people, both of whom have expressed a desire to get on with their lives, must be respected. Based on our understanding of the circumstances, the filmmakers and I are not only comfortable sticking with our original casting, but genuinely happy to have Johnny playing a major character in the movies

Depp isn't the sole actor in the film, which comes out in theaters Nov. 16, of course. The movie also includes Zoë Kravitz as Leta Lestrange, Claudia Kim as Maledictus, and William Nadylam as a new character named Yusuf Kama. But as many Harry Potter fans have made clear by their reactions to Depp's casting in The Crimes of Grindelwald, they are not so thrilled about his role in the second Fantastic Beasts film.