Amber Heard\u00a0isn\u2019t leaving the DC Comics universe. The actress confirmed she\u2019ll return for\u00a0Aquaman 2, despite social media campaigns calling for her removal. Heard plays warrior Mera alongside Jason Momoa in the Warner Bros. film. The news follows the studio\u2019s decision to ask\u00a0Johnny Depp\u00a0to\u00a0resign from the\u00a0Fantastic Beasts\u00a0franchise\u00a0after a judge ruled it\u2019s \u201csubstantially true\u201d he abused Heard.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m super excited about the amount of fan love and the amount of fan appreciation that\u00a0Aquaman\u00a0has acquired and that it has garnered so much excitement for Aquaman and Mera that it means we’ll be coming back,\u201d Heard told\u00a0Entertainment Weekly. \u201cI\u2019m so excited to film that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Heard and Depp split in 2016 with each star accusing the other of domestic violence. In the wake of their messy divorce, a petition was launched demanding Heard be removed from the\u00a0Aquaman\u00a0sequel. \u201cShe has systematically crusaded to ruin Depp in Hollywood, repeating multiple accounts of fake incidents in which she had actually abused Johnny Depp, but lied and created false accounts of him being the abuser,\u201d the\u00a0Change.org petition\u00a0reads. It has over 1.2 million signatures.<\/p>\n
Heard dismissed such campaigns as propaganda.<\/p>\n
\u201cPaid rumors and paid campaigns on social media don\u2019t dictate [casting decisions] because they have no basis in reality,\u201d Heard added to\u00a0EW. \u201cOnly the fans actually made\u00a0Aquaman\u00a0and\u00a0Aquaman 2\u00a0happen. I\u2019m excited to get started next year.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a 2018 op-ed for the\u00a0Washington Post, Heard wrote about being an abuse survivor \u2014 although she never named Depp \u2014 and what it cost her to come forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cFriends and advisers told me I would never again work as an actress \u2014 that I would be blacklisted. A movie I was attached to recast my role. I had just shot a two-year campaign as the face of a global fashion brand, and the company dropped me. Questions arose as to whether I would be able to keep my role of Mera in the movies\u00a0Justice League\u00a0and\u00a0Aquaman,\u201d she penned. \u201cI had the rare vantage point of seeing, in real time, how institutions protect men accused of abuse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Depp has vehemently denied Heard\u2019s claims and is suing her for $50 million for defamation over that op-ed. However, he was just dealt a big legal blow in a different case.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0Pirates of the Caribbean\u00a0star sued News Group Newspapers (NGN), owner of the\u00a0Sun, over a 2018 article that called him a \u201cwife beater.\u201d Heard testified for the defense about 14 alleged instances of abuse and Depp ultimately lost. The actor plans to appeal.<\/p>\n
Depp addressed the \u201csurreal judgment\u201d in his announcement that he will no longer be part of the third\u00a0Fantastic Beasts\u00a0film. \u201cMy resolve remains strong and I intend to prove that the allegations against me are false,\u201d he wrote. \u201cMy life and career will not be defined by this moment in time.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for\u00a0Aquaman 2,\u00a0EW\u00a0noted that Warner Bros. has not officially greenlit the sequel, the cast is not confirmed and it does not have an announced start date. Heard said she believes production will get underway in 2021.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n\n
Amber Heard\u00a0isn\u2019t leaving the DC Comics universe. The actress confirmed she\u2019ll return for\u00a0Aquaman 2, despite social media campaigns calling for her removal. Heard plays warrior Mera alongside Jason Momoa in the Warner Bros. film. The news follows the studio\u2019s decision to ask\u00a0Johnny Depp\u00a0to\u00a0resign from the\u00a0Fantastic Beasts\u00a0franchise\u00a0after a judge ruled it\u2019s \u201csubstantially true\u201d he abused Heard. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":68811,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[611],"tags":[917,918],"yoast_head":"\n