Amber Heard Almost Dropped From 'Aquaman 2' Over Casting Concerns

Amber Heard made her DC Extended Universe debut as Mera back in 2017's Justice League, and would go on to star alongside Jason Momoa in 2018's Aquaman. However, it's emerged that the actor's time in the comic book world was very neatly cut short.

Work on Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom is currently well underway and on track for its 2023 release. Director James Wan is back on board, as are Momoa and Heard. But a new report from Puck claims that Warner Bros. had originally decided not to pick up Heard's option for the DC sequel in light of "chemistry concerns".

Check out a teaser for Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom below!

According to the report, Warner Bros. was concerned about the lack of chemistry between Heard and Momoa in the first movie. It's unclear whether Heard would have been recast, or if the movie would simply have cut Mera entirely. What we do know is that it ended up working out for Heard, who will star in the sequel as originally planned.

This information has come to light ahead of Johnny Depp's $50 million defamation trial against his ex-wife Heard, which opened in Virginia this week.

The 58-year-old actor is suing Heard over a 2018 piece published in The Washington Post in which Heard wrote about her experiences with domestic violence. Depp isn't mentioned by name in this feature, but Heard would later accuse the actor of domestic violence. Depp has denied these claims.

A Virginia judge granted Depp's request to move ahead with the lawsuit back in 2021. Heard had previously attempted to have the case dismissed on the grounds that Depp lost his UK libel lawsuit against The Sun newspaper last year. The UK tabloid had referred to Depp as a "wife beater" in 2018, a statement which the actor contested in court. Eventually, a High Court judge ruled the claim was "substantially true," and that he "did assault Ms. Heard".

However, Fairfax County Chief Judge Penney Azcarate rejected the actress's plea on the basis that the statements made in Heard's op-ed are "inherently different" to the ones that appeared in The Sun.