Fantastic Beasts: 10 Actors Who Could Replace Fired Johnny Depp
3. Jake Gyllenhaal
It felt like Jake Gyllenhaal spent years avoiding blockbuster fare after Prince of Persia bombed, but after some downright incredible performances in movies like Nightcrawler and Prisoners, he returned to the world of big budget filmmaking with Spider-Man: Far From Home.
As Mysterio, the actor definitely impressed. Charming, borderline unhinged, and a complete loon, Quentin Beck was a great baddie, and might have been a nice way of setting the stage for Gyllenhaal to take on another big screen villain. As Gellert Grindelwald, he'd offer a nice combination of madness with the sort of charisma that explains why Albus Dumbledore once considered following him.
Most importantly in some ways is the fact that Gyllenhaal is absolutely nothing like Johnny Depp.
While there's a possibility that Warner Bros. will want to have an actor follow his performance with a similar one, it makes far more sense to move on from that and let whoever is cast do their own thing. That would be easy for Gyllenhaal, especially when his performances are so often transformative.