Amber Heard not being recast Mera in Aquaman 2, trailer confirms

Amber Heard is not being recast as Mera in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, a new trailer has confirmed.

Amber Heard played Mera, Queen of Atlantis in DC’s Aquaman movie in 2018. However, following a messy and very public defamation court case between Heard and ex-husband Johnny Depp, many thought that the actress would be recast in the upcoming sequel, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.

The Aquaman sequel was supposed to release in December 2022, but thanks to the COVID pandemic, the movie was delayed by a year. During that time, some assumed that would offer the folks at DC and Warner Bros. plenty of time to cast a new Mera, with the likes of Emilia Clarke being mentioned by fans.

After all, Johnny Depp was recast by Warner Bros. as Gellert Grindelwald over the same defamation case with Amber Heard and was replaced by Mads Mikkelsen in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.

Well, it seems that Warner Bros. and DC have not recast Heard and she will reprise her role as Mera in the sequel. As reported by our friends at UNILAD, according to sources of both Insider and The Direct, a trailer was reportedly shown during CinemaCon early this week that confirmed that Heard will return.

Heard as Mera was apparently seen in two very brief shots as well as in battle. The rest of the trailer featured Jason Momoa’s Aquaman struggling to lead the Kingdom of Atlantis alongside his brother, Orm played by Patrick Wilson. In the trailer, the return of Black Manta is also confirmed, played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as the movie's main villain.

Across social media, fans have threatened to boycott the sequel to negatively impact box office takings; whether that actually happens, remains to be seen.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will be released in cinemas on 20 December 2023.