Expect to see Mera in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. For years now, there has been a social media movement for Warner Bros. to remove Amber Heard from the upcoming sequel. Her recent defamation trial, which saw ex-husband Johnny Depp coming out ahead with the verdict, had only increased those calls for Heard to be cut. This includes more than 4.6 million people signing a Change.org petition for the firing to happen; the petition was sitting at around 1.8 million names ahead of the trial.
Recently, an unsubstantiated report hit the web purporting that Heard had been completely removed from the sequel. The rumor had been starting to spread before Heard's camp squashed it with a new statement, denying that Mera had been wiped from Aquaman 2. A spokesperson for Heard sent the following statement to Variety to debunk the rumor:
“The rumor mill continues as it has from day one — inaccurate, insensitive and slightly insane.”
The rumors that Heard had been outright removed from the film were also in stark contrast to what has been reported coming out of the latest test screenings. At one point, Heard was reported to have around ten minutes of screen time, and her screen time has reportedly doubled in the new cut with more than 20 minutes of footage for Heard. In any case, however, Heard testified that her role in the sequel had been greatly reduced compared to what it was in the original script. She attributed this to her legal battle with Depp, but producer Walter Hamada testified that it was because of a "lack of chemistry" with Jason Momoa.
Amber Heard Says The Online Backlash Hasn't Been Fair
Following the trial, Amber Heard spoke with Savannah Guthrie on Today to share her thoughts on the verdict. She said she didn't "blame" the jury for arriving at their decision after "paid employees" and "randos" had spent weeks testifying for Johnny Depp's team. But for even those who believe that Heard lied about her allegations of domestic abuse, the Aquaman star still argues that the way she has been treated, from the social media criticism to the Change.org petition, hasn't been fair.
"I don’t care what one thinks about me or what judgments you want to make about what happened in the privacy of my own home, in my marriage, behind closed doors," Heard said in the interview. "I don’t presume the average person should know those things. And so I don’t take it personally. But, even somebody who is sure I’m deserving of all this hate and vitriol, even if you think that I’m lying, you still couldn’t look me in the eye and tell me that you think on social media there’s been a fair representation. You cannot tell me that you think that this has been fair.”
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is scheduled to be released in movie theaters on March 17, 2023, and as of now, the film will include Amber Heard.