As Johnny Depp’s defamation trial continues, a petition to remove Amber Heard from Aquaman 2 is approaching its goal of three million signatures.
The DC sequel, in which Heard plays Mera, the love interest of Aquaman (Jason Momoa), wrapped production earlier this year, with director James Wan confirming the film’s completion in January. Aquaman 2 is set to hit theaters in March 2023.
The Change.org petition had surpassed 2.9 million signatures as of Monday (2 May), at the time of writing. It was started by fans who claim that since the couple divorced in 2016, Heard “has systematically crusaded to ruin Depp in Hollywood.”
It will become one of Change.org’s most popular petitions once it reaches three million supporters.
Meanwhile, since Depp claimed he is a victim of intimate partner violence and abuse in his explosive three-day testimony at the Virginia Fairfax Courthouse, where the defamation trial is underway, several other petitions related to the actor have received new and renewed interest.
One of the petitions calls for Peter Safran, the producer of Aquaman 2, to be fired for “not firing” Heard.
Depp is suing Heard for $50 million (£38.2 million) after she wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post in 2018 implying that the Pirates of the Caribbean actor had abused her during their relationship.
Heard’s article, according to the actor, cost him major movie deals and harmed his professional standing in Hollywood.
Following Depp’s exit from the Fantastic Beasts franchise, an online petition to remove Heard from the Aquaman sequel began gaining traction in November 2020, with 1.5 million signatures.
After losing a libel case against The Sun over a 2018 article that called him a “wife beater,” Depp resigned from the franchise, which was recently released with Mads Mikkelson taking over the role, at Warner Bros’ request.
Heard had previously spoken out against the campaign to remove her from the film. She denied that the Depp libel case had any bearing on her own franchise, insisting that she was set to film the sequel.
“Paid rumours and paid campaigns on social media don’t dictate [casting decisions] because they have no basis in reality,” she said at the time.
The Depp-Heard trial is expected to resume on Monday after the weekend break .
