10 Movie Franchises Ruined By One Dumb Decision

6. Casting Johnny Depp - Fantastic Beasts

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was a solid enough start for J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter spin-off franchise...at least until Rowling made the ill-advised last-minute call to reveal that not only was the villainous Percival Graves (Colin Farrell) actually big bad Grindelwald all along, but that Grindelwald was going to be played by Johnny Depp.

The big reveal left audiences more unintentionally amused and baffled than blown away, aided in no small part by Depp's ridiculous get-up, the fact that he was hot off a series of high-profile flops at the time, and the domestic abuse allegations levelled against him by ex-wife Amber Heard.

Depp nevertheless returned for last year's sequel, The Crimes of Grindelwald, his presence alone again proving impossible to take seriously if not also problematic.

Recent reports suggest that Warner Bros. executives were unhappy with Rowling defending Depp so staunchly in the press, as it made the prospect of a recast more difficult.

The third film was eventually delayed by a year, widely accepted to be a PR move to get some of the stink away from Depp, and given that critical and fan response to the previous film was incredibly lukewarm, it's tough to imagine the series actually limping it out to a planned five-film franchise.

It'd surprise nobody if Warner Bros. quietly re-jigged the third film to be the finale to the Grindelwald arc, and then a new trilogy of films could just focus on a new villain, or perhaps even have Grindelwald shape-shift and have another actor take over from Depp. Hell, bring Colin Farrell back, because he crushed it in the first film.

But clearly, Depp's presence casts a dark pall over the franchise and is directly impacting its potential to live up to the core Harry Potter brand.