The news that Johnny Depp has been cast in the Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them sequel (and that he will cameo in the first movie) came as a bit of a shock to most Potter fans when it was announced last week. 

Speaking to The Leaky Cauldron, Fantastic Beasts director David Yates discussed the casting of Depp and confirmed that he would indeed be playing the dark wizard, Gellert Grindelwald. 

Yates began by describing the challenge they faced in finding the right actor for Grindelwald.

"The whole principal of casting the movie was go with the best actor. Go for the most inspired, interesting, right fit for that character. And as we approached Grindelwald we thought, 'Who's going to take this in an interesting direction?' In this business, it's a weird old business. You're brilliant one week, people are saying odd things the next, you go up and down. But no one takes away your pure talent."

He was then full of praise for Depp who he described as 'a real artist'.

"Johnny Depp is a real artist. He's created several characters who have really resonated in our popular culture. He's a really brilliant, brilliant actor. We were excited about seeing what he would do with this guy, the character."

"He's fearless; he's imaginative; he's ambitious. We thought he would do something fun and special. So we went for him, purely on that selfish basis. We don't care if he's famous or not famous. We just know he's interesting."

Fantastic Beasts producer David Heyman admitted that he was shocked that the news didn't leak before now. 

"It was completely bonkers," Heyman declared. "I was convinced it [would leak]. You can keep very few secrets nowadays, especially something like that!"

"When he came to Leavesden and we filmed for two days… and it didn't come out. That's mad."

The duo also confirmed that the sequel will be set in Europe with Paris and the UK the most likely backdrops. 

They are also in the process of casting a young Dumbledore for the sequel and one expects that they will be looking for a name big enough to match up to Depp.