Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts 3 has put production on hold after a “team member” tested positive for coronavirus, Deadline can confirm.
Warner Bros sent us the follow statement:
“A team member from Fantastic Beasts 3 has tested positive for COVID-19. The diagnosis was confirmed as a result of required and ongoing testing that all production employees receive, and the team member is currently in isolation. Out of an abundance of caution, Fantastic Beasts 3 paused production and will be back up in accordance with safety guidelines.”
It is not clear who the team member is, and whether the shoot is down because they are a crucial part of the production (such as what happened with Robert Pattinson and The Batman) or whether they were in contact with other crew members and WB needs to avoid an outbreak.
The movie is shooting at Warner Bros Leavesden, just outside of London.
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The pic hit a previous bump in the road when WB made the decision to dismiss Johnny Depp from the project after he lost his legal battle with UK paper The Sun. Mads Mikkelsen was re-cast as Dark Wizard Gellert Grindelwald.
Due to the delays, the film was pushed back to a summer 2022 release.
Thank God Johnny is safe..
At least Johnny is safe!
Wouldn’t be going to see it anyway without Johnny Depp. Unlucky Warner Bros. I’m sure it’s costing you a small fortune. Karma!
Honestly feels like karma for dropping Johnny I definitely won’t be watching fantastic beasts anymore but made he’s an amazing actor and all but I am a diehard Johnny Depp fan very disappointed with Warner Bros.
I LOVE Mads Mikkelsen. But dropping J. Depp because he lost a lawsuit against The Sun (which is the biggest piece of garbage as far as UK media outlets are concerned)??? How perverted is that???