The ongoing legal wrangling betweenJohnny DeppandAmber Heardstill seems to have a long way to go before there is any kind of resolution reached between the two parties, and now new documents seem to suggest that Heard is now bringing her upcoming appearance inAquaman and the Lost Kingdominto the mix by attempting to keep it from being mentioned in the forthcoming trial. New documents shared on Twitter seem to show that Heard is trying to prevent her upcoming movie from being mentioned at all in court when she and Depp meet in their next round of legal face-offs.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdombecame a target for supporters of Depp, with Warner Bros. being petitioned by fans to drop Heard from the movie. While it seemed early on in development, the studio could be looking to recast the role of Mera, the part played by Heard in the firstAquamanmovie, which she reprises in the sequel along with Jason Momoa’s Arthur Curry/Aquaman, and a host of returning stars including Dolph Lundgren, Patrick Wilson and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II.
While it may not seem like an important point, for Depp to be able to talk about Heard’sAquamanrole could provide him with evidence that delays to the production of theAquamansequel were down to the allegations of abuse that he claimed against Heard and not the “creative issues” that Warner Bros. stated were the reasons behind the delays. As the additional shared documents seem to suggest, Depp very much wants to talk about Heard’s role in the superhero sequel, which is not surprising considering the position he found himself in on theFantastic Beastssequel.
Johnny Depp Will Want to Discuss Aquaman 2 in Court to Compare It With Fantastic Beasts 3
When the allegations against Depp were first made public, it did not take long for it to be announced that the actor would be stepping away from his role inFantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, with Mads Mikkelsen taking over the part of Grindlewald in the new movie. Considering Warner Bros. are also behind theAquamansequel, it is obvious that Depp and his legal team will want to discuss how Heard came to remain in the movie and whether there were ever discussions about her role being untenable at any point.
From Warner Bros. point of view, it could be argued that the studio does not want to see the upcoming movie dragged through the court case in the same way that Depp’s inclusion in theFantastic Beastssequel was feared to be something that would overshadow the film’s release. WithAquaman and the Lost Kingdomheading to cinemas at the end of the year, it could be argued that all publicity is publicity for the film, but at the same time, there is no doubt that whatever is spoken about in court will stir up boycott calls amongst Depp’s followers.
In the long run, the legal battle between Depp and Heard is not going to have a lasting impact on the release ofAquaman and the Lost Kingdom, but Warner Bros. has found itself caught in the middle of a situation they would have preferred to stay out of and unless Heard’s new request is upheld, it doesn’t seem like they can avoid being dragged further into the case.
