AceShowbiz -

Johnny Depp is tapped as Gellert Grindelwald in "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 2". After a week of speculations about his secret role in the second "Fantastic Beasts" movie, director David Yates has now confirmed that the Oscar-nominated actor will portray the powerful dark wizard.

Along with the confirmation, Yates also explained the process behind Depp's casting. "The whole principal of casting the movie was go with the best actor," the helmer told The Leaky Cauldron. "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?' "

"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," Yates said. "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."

The helmer also revealed that the follow-up to "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" would be back to Europe after the America-set first movie. "We do go back to the U.K. in the second film as well - it's U.K. and Paris," he said. "I'm not sure where [David Heyman] is setting the rest of the movies, but they'll be European-centric. I think it will be difficult to ignore America, but the next one is predominately Europe."

The first "Fantastic Beasts" movie is coming to U.S. theaters on November 18. It stars Eddie Redmayne as the lead character and is supported by Katherine Waterston, Ezra Miller, Colin Farrell, Alison Sudol and Dan Fogler. Depp will also make a brief appearance in the first movie, before starring in the sequel which will arrive on November 16, 2018. The third movie will follow on November 20, 2020.