Daniel Radcliffe Discusses Controversy Surrounding Johnny Depp's 'Fantastic Beasts' Casting

Best known for being the boy, now man, who brought J.K. Rowling's iconic Harry Potter character to life in the eight-part movie series, Daniel Radcliffe is somebody whose voice (you would imagine) holds a lot of weight when it comes to the franchise. Though his journey within the 'Harry Potter' universe has been brought to an end, the story is one that lives on, partly in thanks to the new series of 'Fantastic Beasts' films.

Now, Radcliffe is wading into the debate surrounding Depp's involvement in the film, after both Rowling and the movie's director David Yates had defended the casting.

In a statement to EW, the actor explained how it was "a very hard thing for me", because of the producers who "gave me a great start in life and an amazing job."

He continued: "I can see why people are frustrated with the response that they were given from that ... I’m not saying anything that anybody hasn’t already said — and this is a weird analogy to draw — [but] in the NFL, there are lots of players arrested for smoking weed and there is other people’s behavior that goes way beyond that and it’s tolerated because they're very famous players. I suppose the thing I was struck by was, we did have a guy who was reprimanded for weed on the [original 'Potter'] film, essentially, so obviously what Johnny has been accused of is much greater than that."

Radcliffe references his former co-star Jamie Waylett in his statement, who starred in the first six 'Harry Potter' movies before being removed from the cast because of an arrest in 2009 that saw him in possession of marijuana. The actor was brought up on criminal charges and charged after he plead guilty however, whereas Depp never faced any official charges in court.

Despite the public opinion swirling around Depp, the studios would be in murky waters if they fired him when he was never officially charged with the accusations levelled at him by his ex-partner. Still, when the topic of abuse against women is so prominent in Hollywood right now, it's also hard to think of a good reason that the studios wouldn't just cut their losses and recast the role of Grindelwald.

'The Crimes Of Grindelwald' will however be going ahead with Depp. When the box office figures come out at the end of the year, that will show just how appalled audiences truly are at Depp's casting.

More: 'Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald' Director Defends Johnny Depp Casting

'Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald' comes to cinemas across the UK on November 16, 2018.