Every Actor Who Has Played Grindelwald In Harry Potter & Fantastic Beasts

There were many Gellert Grindelwald actors throughout the Harry Potter franchise, especially as Fantastic Beasts brought him into the spotlight. Each iteration of the infamous wizard Gellert Grindelwald has been wildly different from the other, with each actor bringing their distinctive flavor to the role. Gellert Grindelwald is mentioned a few times throughout the Harry Potter books. However, his first official introduction was as an old "friend" hidden in Dumbledore’s past in the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book.

It is revealed that Grindelwald and Dumbledore were extremely close in the past and planned to bring the Wizarding World out of the shadows and subdue the non-magical population. Dumbledore realizes the error in this plan and, after the death of his sister Ariana, distances himself from Grindelwald. Grindelwald went ahead with his plan but was eventually stopped by Dumbledore in a grand duel. This backstory was explored in Fantastic Beasts, which ended early. There have been five Gellert Grindelwald actors, some appearing in the original Harry Potter series and others in Fantastic Beasts.

Jamie Campbell Bower

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 1

Jaime Campbell Bower was the first actor to play Gellert Grindelwald and the one who has remained the most consistent throughout both franchises. He first took on the role in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 as a young Gellert Grindelwald in photographs and flashbacks. Grindelwald’s backstory with Dumbledore is briefly explored, but the film puts more focus on Grindelwald’s connection to the Elder Wand instead. He physically looks as Grindelwald is described in the books, with haunting good looks that draw people to him.

While Jamie Campbell Bower’s appearance is reduced to non-speaking in Deathly Hallows, he still manages to set up the character, so audiences can understand the kind of person he was with his looming presence while in photographs with a young Dumbledore, as well as his agile movements while stealing the Elder Wand. Bower later reprises the role in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. Once again, his role was kept in flashbacks, as Jude Law’s Dumbledore thinks back on when he and Grindelwald created a blood pact, so they could never harm one another.

The scene is one of few that show Dumbledore and Grindelwald's relationship in a way that suggests they were involved romantically, with them interlocking their hands and staring into one another’s eyes. The appearance of Bower’s version of Grindelwald is also updated with him now having heterochromia, the condition of having two different colored eyes, which was added for the Fantastic Beasts films.

Michael Byrne

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

Along with Jamie Campbell Bower, Michael Byrne also plays Gellert Grindelwald in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. He plays the character in the present-day timeline of the Harry Potter series, now an old man in prison paying for his past crimes. The older Grindelwald only appears in one scene, similar to in the Deathly Hallows book, where Grindelwald is questioned by Voldemort about the Elder Wand. Byrne’s portrayal of Grindelwald is wildly different from the character in the book.

The book version of Grindelwald sees the error of his ways and refuses to tell Voldemort what he wants to know, eventually leading to the death of the character. Byrne’s film version of the character, however, delights in telling Voldemort that the Elder Wand lies with Dumbledore in his grave, even laughing as Voldemort leaves to retrieve it. While he is not featured in the sequel series, Byrne's version of Grindelwald remains starkly different from the performances shown in the Fantastic Beasts films.

While Grindelwald has done terrible things in all three films, he never shows pleasure in the idea of hurting Dumbledore, instead only showing anger, sadness, or indifference to any mention of his name. Byrne’s difference from the other Gellert Grindelwald performances, however, could be explained by the lack of knowledge of how deep Grindelwald’s feelings were for Dumbledore at the time Deathly Hallows was being made. Regardless, Byrne’s performance remains the most different portrayal of Grindelwald to date.

Colin Farrell

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Colin Farrell was the first actor to play Gellert Grindelwald in the Fantastic Beasts series, though it was on a technicality. Grindelwald was teased as a background threat in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, instead setting up the American Auror, Percival Graves, played by Colin Farrell, to be the main villain of the film. In a twist ending, however, Newt Scamander reveals Graves to be Grindelwald in disguise. So, while Colin Farrell outwardly looks like a different character, all of his words and actions were those of Grindelwald.

Farrell’s interpretation of Grindelwald puts focus on his malicious side, spending most of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them hunting down a child who is an Obscurial to use for his plans. Farrell also manages to slip in hints to Fantastic Beasts' Grindelwald twist by showing fake kindness to those he is harming (a trait later seen in Grindelwald performances) and immediately finding ways to bring Dumbledore into conversations.

Perhaps the largest hint that Farrell is playing Grindelwald is the similar introduction shots of Percival Graves and Grindelwald. Both are introduced with a shot of the back of their head with the same haircut.

Johnny Depp

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

Originally, Johnny Depp was set to be Gellert Grindelwald throughout the Fantastic Beasts series. He first made a cameo at the end of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, with Farrell slowly turning into Depp, revealing the twist that Grindelwald was the villain all along. In Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, he was finally given center stage and audiences were able to see who the character is for an entire film, not just restricted to cameos or flashbacks.

Depp was later asked to step down from the Fantastic Beasts series and the role of Grindelwald by Warner Bros after real-life controversies arose in Depp's life. Along with the bad reviews of the film, Depp’s Grindelwald performance was met with criticism, with critics and audiences feeling it was similar to Depp’s performances in other films and not liking the new design of the character with bleach blonde hair and starkly different colored eyes.

However, at a closer look, his performance is most similar to how Grindelwald was set up in the Harry Potter books. Grindelwald’s manipulation and intelligence are cited as his greatest assets and Depp’s version of the character is the one that exemplifies these traits.

His Grindelwald acts more like a puppet master, leading people to do horrible things as opposed to forcing them to. Depp is also the Gellert Grindelwald actor who looks the most like Jamie Campbell Bower, making it more believable that they are the same person at different times in their life. Nevertheless, Depp did not return to play Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, in part due to the controversy surrounding his legal proceedings at the time.

Mads Mikkelsen

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore

Mads Mikkelsen was chosen to replace Depp as Grindelwald. Similar to Depp, Mikkelsen got the opportunity to play Grindelwald for an entire film, as opposed to a cameo or flashback. Mikkelsen received the most praise for portraying the character, despite the lukewarm reaction to Secrets of Dumbledore. Along with a new look with a more subtle color difference with his eyes and more understated hair color, Mikkelsen brought a quiet danger to the character, exuding confidence when intimidating the other characters.

The only downgrade for Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts 3 is that a lot of Grindelwald’s motivations or actions don’t make much sense in continuity to the Wizarding World or to how his character was previously set up. However, Mads Mikkelsen’s Grindelwald stands out from the rest due to the focus on his romantic relationship with Dumbledore. Audiences, especially LGBTQ+ viewers, were growing tired of the small teases of the same-sex relationship between the two wizards and wanted it to be fully explored.

While Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore didn’t fully embrace the storyline, it did put more focus on it than its previous films by having Mikkelsen and Jude Law share screen time together. After a lot of recasting, Grindelwald became the role with the most different actors. Grindelwald’s portrayals are supposed to be the same person, not completely different versions of the character.

Perhaps, however, this constant recasting of Grindelwald throughout the Harry Potter series and the Fantastic Beasts series is a coincidental mirror to the character of Grindelwald and how he has many masks, many sides to him, and nobody could ever tell who he truly was.

The Grindelwald Recast Couldn't Save The Fantastic Beasts Franchise

Mads Mikkelsen Couldn't Save The Franchise

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore seemed like one last-ditch effort to save the franchise, and a new Gellert Grindelwald actor unfortunately wasn't enough. The Secrets of Dumbledore tried hard to save the franchise. Not only was Grindelwald recast but Harry Potter screenwriter Steve Kloves was brought on to help J.K. Rowling pen the screenplay.

In addition, the LGBTQ+ storyline between Dumbledore and Grindelwald finally saw the light of day, which was something that fans had been wanting to see from the beginning. Even with all of these changes, The Secrets of Dumbledore proved to be a box-office disaster, with many of the same critiques for The Crimes of Grindelwald being levelled at it. The franchise was supposed to consist of five total films, but Fantastic Beasts 4 will likely never happen.

It looks like Secrets of Dumbledore was unable to save the franchise, and the Harry Potter franchise will instead move on with a new Max series of the original books, ignoring this phase of the story's lifeline. While Mads Mikkelsen was a particular highlight of the third Fantastic Beasts movie, his stand-out performance unfortunately wasn't enough to save the film, and the Harry Potter prequel franchise died a quiet death.

Grindelwald Never Felt As Imposing As Voldemort

Voldemort Always Felt More Threatening

One of the biggest reasons that fans couldn't get as attached to the Fantastic Beasts series as they did to the Harry Potter movies was because there was a lack of inherent danger. While Grindelwald possessed a threat, and he had almost an entire government system working for him, Voldemort was always more imposing. Both had followers, but Voldemort's evil hold over his Death Eaters always seemed more dangerous than Grindelwald's mostly charismatic leadership of his followers.

There is also the idea that Voldemort tried to kill a baby, and his main goal was to kill a child to become all-powerful; making Voldemort's target a young boy made him seem even more dangerous. The Fantastic Beasts franchise seemed almost obsessed with showing Grindelwald and Dumbledore's relationship, and that made the movies very different in feel. However, at the same time, it made Grindelwald feel less threatening than Voldemort did throughout the original franchise.

The Fantastic Beasts films tried hard to make Grindelwald a legitimate antagonist and cast some amazing actors, from Colin Farrell to Johnny Depp to Mads Mikkelsen. Their great talent allowed them to deliver great performances as the movie villain. However, the scripts and the battles he was involved in made him a lesser wizard to Voldemort, even if Grindelwald was supposed to be much more powerful. The franchise might have succeeded if Fantastic Beasts had made Grindelwald as menacing as Voldemort.

Which Grindelwald Actor Was The Best?

It Comes Down To Mikkelsen Vs. Depp

There is much debate online about which Grindelwald actor was the best. First up, it is easy to eliminate Jaime Campbell Bower and Michael Byrne from consideration since they did little outside of showing up in flashbacks. It is also mostly seen that fans and critics removed Colin Farrell from consideration since he was never playing "Grindelwald" and was instead playing the government official that Grindelwald was pretending to be. That leaves Johnny Depp and Mads Mikkelsen.

It seems like most fans preferred Mikkelsen in the role. In one Reddit thread discussing Grindelwald. After one person mentioned that Johnny Depp is better at playing "crazy" characters, Redditor Andregreco99 wrote that isn't who Grindelwald really is:

"To me the point is, and always seemed like that in the books, that Grindelwald isn’t a crazy man. He’s a ruthless, violent and cruel politician who is also extremely charismatic but in the “trust me and my vision of the future and we’ll secure a better world for our community” more than a “I want to hear which sound the world makes while burning, who’s with me?!” kind of villain."

However, there are others who liked Depp's charisma in Fantastic Beasts but Mikkelsen's more "dangerous performance." Redditor Wise-Recognition8990 wrote, "Depp was brilliant in CoG regarding the charismatic side of the character (imo the look was odd though). Mikkelsen was in his scenes with Albus, and in the scenes where Grindelwald does bad things and is more violent." It seems that most fans seemed to prefer Mikkelsen in the end, with SaintMilitant writing, "Mads makes me buy the character."