So here comes a not-so-surprising confirmation, but it’s one that I figured was worth pointing out nonetheless.

Next month, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald will be hitting theaters, putting Johnny Depp’s take on the dark wizard front-and-center for the first time. However, it turns out this won’t be the last time we see him in these films, as confirmed by Depp himself when speaking to Collider.

“So it was a gas [playing Grindelwald] and I look forward to the next installment, which I think we start the middle of next year.”

Again, this isn’t the most shocking news in the world. Anyone who knows anything about Harry Potter lore knows that Grindelwald survives up until the events near the end of Harry Potter, meaning that there will always be room for him to return to the plot, even if he is locked up. Second, fans also know that Grindelwald’s rise to power is something that culminates around World War II, and since the events in the film are still the late ’20s, there’s still plenty of time before he is at his zenith, meaning his role in the tale can’t be finished yet.

Depp’s casting as the wizard, however, has been more than a little controversial. In addition to being overexposed for the past 15 years, there is also the physical and mental abuse accusations from his ex-wife Amber Heard. We’ll have to wait and see how audiences ultimately take to his character when the film comes out.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald hits theaters on November 16, 2018.

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SOURCE: Collider