Warner Bros.
Following her contentious divorce from Johnny Depp and accusations of domestic violence against the actor, Amber Heard has been the repeated target of social media campaigns demanding that Warner Bros. recast her role of Mera in Aquaman 2. These efforts reached a crescendo after Depp lost his libel lawsuit against The Sun when a judge ruled that it was “substantially true” when the British tabloid labeled him a “wife beater.” That decision prompted Warner Bros. to immediately force Depp to resign from Fantastic Beasts 3, which led to his fans demanding Heard suffer a similar fate.
However, Heard has since confirmed that she is locked in for Aquaman 2 and is “so excited” to film the underwater adventure sometime in 2021. She also took a moment to shoot down the online efforts to have her booted from the sequel. Via Entertainment Weekly:
“Paid rumors and paid campaigns on social media don’t dictate [casting decisions] because they have no basis in reality,” Heard added. “Only the fans actually made Aquaman and Aquaman 2 happen. I’m excited to get started next year.”
Rejoining Heard for the Aquaman sequel is Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, who’s coming off the white-hot success of HBO’s Watchmen and Netflix’s The Trial Of The Chicago 7. Mateen played the classic villain Black Manta in the first Aquaman movie, and he told Uproxx that he’s fully onboard with Aquaman 2 when it gets up and running. “Black Manta will be back,” Mateen said. “And hopefully, he’ll be causing a lot more trouble than he did in the first one.”
(Via Entertainment Weekly)
