Jason Momoa and Aquaman 2 Director, James Wan, both wanted to keep Amber Heard in the movie despite the controversy surround the ongoing trial.
Aquaman 2 is coming up in about a years time, featuring good ol' Jason Momoa, a few other co-stars, and directed by James Wan. Seeing as Amber Heard is current featuring in a highly-successful court drama as of late, featuring Ludwig and Pokimane as lawyers (of course), it has been a bit uncertain whether she will be returning for the film. I mean, she is pretty darn busy!
Jokes aside, though, Warner Bros. were more than ready to fire Amber Heard due to the ongoing Johnny Depp trial. It makes sense, of course, I mean Amber Heard's ability to win a court case is clearly indicative of her ability to act in a comic book movie. Luckily for Heard, though, Momo's got her back! And Wan... James Wan...
I am clearly being sarcastic about it making any sense for Warner Bros. to give a fork about Amber Heard and Johnny Depp's ongoing trial. Honestly, who cares about the trial this-way-or-that? It doesn't matter! Well, it looks like people were out for Amber Heard's blood, and Aquaman himself came to the rescue. Here's the deal...
Save Me, Jason, Save Me!
According to the reports from The Wrap, Kathryn Arnold (an entertainment industry consultant) has said that Amber Heard was almost removed from Aquaman 2, before Jason Momoa and James Wan stepped in against it. It's good to see that unnecessary fan backlash over a trial that honestly doesn't affect the lives of us has not totally derailed Heard's career.
In February 2021, there were conversations that Amber’s, I’m going to be technical with you, her option for employment was not going to be exercised. So they may not have hired her again... Her management team fought very hard and they ultimately ended up hiring her, but not only because of what her management did, but also because star Jason Momoa and director James Wan committed to her.
It's not entirely certain, though, that the ongoing Amber Heard x Johnny Depp trial is the true reason for Warner Bros. considering her removal. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the reason for this consideration was because Jason Momoa and Amber Heard "didn't have a lot of chemistry together".
The Hollywood Reporter's story quoted Warner Bros. chief, Walter Hamada, who said the following:
At the end of the day when you watch the movie, it looks like they have great chemistry... But I just know that through the course of postproduction, it took a lot of effort to get there. Sometimes you just put characters together on the screen and they work. It’s like what makes a movie star a movie star. You know it when you see it. The chemistry wasn’t there… This one was more difficult because of lack of chemistry between the two.
So, who the hell knows what the reality of this situation is. What we do know, though, is that whether Warner Bros.' decision was due to the trial or not, both Jason Momoa and the film's director James Wan stepped in and stopped the changeover. Whether you like Amber Heard or not, this is good for the consistency of the films.