Warner Bros. has had a rough couple of weeks thanks to Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s legal battle. Though according to a new report, the company was looking for a way to sack the Pirates of the Caribbean star even before his loss and the outcome of the libel case gave them the perfect excuse.
The controversy surrounding the rocky and toxic marriage of the two Hollywood thespians has yet to die down after four years. And while both of their careers in the film industry have suffered as a result of this public feud, the incident has also dragged in a lot of other people since it coincided with major cultural upheavals such as the #MeToo movement.
Right now, many are angry over the UK court’s ruling, which turned out in favor of The Sun, the publication that had called Depp a “wife beater” in 2018. And given the substantial evidence against the Aquaman actress, fans assumed that at worst, the industry moguls would simply turn a blind eye. Yet, shortly after the trial concluded, WB announced that they were recasting Grindelwald in the Fantastic Beasts series, a move that enraged a lot of folks on the internet and generated a ton of backlash.
According to a new report from Geekosity’s Mikey Sutton, though, the company didn’t want Depp to be involved with the Wizarding World’s spinoff any longer, but they were too afraid to “render judgment themselves.” And so, the actor losing the libel case gave them enough justification to go through with it.
We still don’t know whether Warner Bros. wishes to do the same with Amber Heard in Aquaman 2, but if other recent reports are any indication, they’ll keep her around for the time being. Though it almost certainly won’t bode well for James Wan’s sequel, as Johnny Depp‘s fans are still fervently campaigning to see her fired.
