As the female lead in the highest-grossing DC Comics adaptation ever and the second biggest hit in Warner Bros.’ history, the role of Mera in the Aquaman franchise is certainly a plum gig. However, Amber Heard has been dealing with petitions and calls from fans to have her removed from the part after public opinion has firmly sided with Johnny Depp following a protracted series of legal battles between the two.
Besides that, Mera was a fairly underwritten and one-dimensional character in the first installment, and a lot of people didn’t warm to Heard’s performance, which often came off as cold and distant. Still, the actress will have inevitably signed a multi-picture deal to return for numerous sequels, and has even been linked with joining the DCEU’s next Justice League lineup.
Of course, petitions rarely if ever succeed in their goal when it comes to big budget blockbusters, so it wasn’t a surprise to hear that the 34 year-old will be back for James Wan’s highly anticipated follow-up, even if a lot of people online are unhappy about it. But in an interesting turn of events, insider Grace Randolph claims that Heard’s role could still be reduced depending on the outcome of her latest court battle against her ex-husband.
According to the tipster, Aquaman 2 will be designed and shot in a way that will allow her part to be drastically cut down in post-production, should the messy war of attrition between the ex-spouses throw up any more courtroom revelations as it’s been prone to doing. Taking to Twitter, here’s what Randolph said exactly:
One more ☕️ post for today:#EzraMiller & #JohnnyDepp are definitely in #FantasticBeasts3#AmberHeard is definitely in #Aquaman2
HOWEVER they are shooting so that Depp & Heard’s roles can be decreased if bad press…
Also new female character will be in #Aquaman2#DC #DCEU pic.twitter.com/9l2FbiJq94
— Grace Randolph (@GraceRandolph) October 17, 2020
Of course, the studio can’t exactly fire Amber Heard just because people seem to like Johnny Depp more, but it would appear they’re also covering their bases in the event of a worst case scenario.
