Amber Heard's 'Aquaman 2' Role Was Cut, But Not Because Of Depp

DC Films chief Walter Hamada has rebuked claims made by Amber Heard that her role in Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom was cut because of the abuse allegations levelled at her by ex-husband Johnny Depp.

During the ongoing defamation trial between Heard and Depp, Heard claimed that her role in the upcoming DC superhero movie had been greatly reduced, despite the actor "fighting hard" to remain part of the movie.

Heard's involvement in the sequel has been a matter of some controversy, to the point that a petition to have her removed entirely from the project passed 4 million signatures last month. The criticism of Heard has only been amplified by the highly publicised legal battle brought about by Depp's $50million defamation lawsuit against his ex-wife.

Heard took to the stand earlier this month as part of the trial, where she argued that the public fallout against her has directly impacted her part as Atlantean royal Mera alongside Jason Momoa's Aquaman.

"I fought really hard to stay in the movie. They didn't want to include me in the film," Heard told the court on Monday, May 16.

However, Hamada has now claimed that Heard's version of events isn't accurate. While he confirmed Heard's role in the movie has been cut down from the first instalment, he insists it's not because of the ongoing trial.

Taking to the stand to testify, Hamada said that the decision to alter Heard's role was not something the studio decided to do at the last minute. In fact, he said that DC Studios had been considering recasting Mera entirely for a number of weeks, because of the lack of chemistry between Heard and co-star Momoa.

“They did not have a lot of chemistry together," he explained.

Hamada added that Mera was never supposed to be a romantic co-lead like she was in the first movie. When asked if Heard's role had been reduced, Hamada said that "from the very early stages of development” Aquaman 2 was conceived as a “buddy comedy” between Aquaman and his half-brother, King Orm (Patrick Wilson).

With that said, Hamada did stress that the original Aquaman was still a hit and that test audiences rated Heard highly. He also had no complaints about working with Heard on either movie.