The ongoing saga of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s mutual domestic abuse allegations took a shocking turn this week as a leaked audio tape recorded back in 2015 surfaced, featuring the actress admitting to hitting the Pirates of the Caribbean star. While this doesn’t refute the separate claims Heard has made against Depp, it has led to the public’s opinion on the former becoming more muddled and perhaps led to support of the latter increasing again.
The ex-married couple’s messy divorce and post-separation court case has been ongoing for several years now, with the blowback previously causing Warner Bros. to consider replacing Depp in the Fantastic Beasts franchise. In light of this new evidence, though, it’s possible that the same studio is now flipping their script and thinking about removing Amber Heard from another of their franchises. Specifically, the DCEU, and it’d start with Aquaman 2.Â
We Got This Covered has heard from our sources – the same ones who said Transformers is being rebooted and that Patrick Wilson will return for the aforementioned sequel, both of which have since been confirmed – that replacing Heard is something that’s actively being discussed right now. It’s far from a sure thing, but we’ve been told that several execs at the studio want to recast the role of Mera, Arthur’s love interest, due to the bad press surrounding the actress and the huge number of fans who are now turning against her.
Ultimately, it’s hard to say what will happen here, but if it’s anything like Depp and Fantastic Beasts, the recast won’t go ahead, as we know that the actor is due to reprise the villainous Gellert Grindelwald in FB3. However, the support of creator J.K. Rowling behind him and, of course, his own star power may well have helped Depp’s chances. It’s possible that things could turn out differently for Heard without that same backing that her ex-husband has, but presumably, Jason Momoa and director James Wan would put their own clout behind her, which could help her chances and have WB think twice before they remove her.
In any case, we’ll just have to wait and see what Warner Bros. ultimately decide to do for Aquaman 2, but it sure sounds like replacing the actress is something that’s seriously being considered. And given that this intel comes from the same sources who also told us John Cena is playing Vin Diesel’s brother in Fast & Furious 9, a She-Hulk show is coming to Disney Plus and Diana will get her Golden Eagle armor in Wonder Woman 1984, all of which we now know to be true, we’ve no reason to doubt it.
