19 Apr – It looks like all hopes for fans who wanted to see Emilia Clarke replace Amber Heard in "Aquaman 2" are dashed, after the latter recently posted a photo teasing that she will be back for the sequel. On 17 April, the actress shared a throwback photo of her reading a novel on the set of the first film, and wrote, "Before Aquaman took the last pages out of this book." She also tagged the official page of "Aquaman" and co-star Jason Momoa, adding the hashtag "gettingakindleforaquaman2". The post was in reference to her previous interview, in which Heard said that Momoa would rip the pages off her book so she would pay attention to him.
Heard was previously rumoured to be kicked out of the DC franchise amid the ongoing court battle with ex-husband Johnny Depp. While she was previously championed by many for her "bravery" in exposing Depp's alleged abuse against her, fans had since turned their support away from her and expressing support for the "Pirates of the Caribbean" actor instead. This comes after audio clips of her spat with Depp turned viral amid the libel case filed by the actor, in which she could be heard admitting to hitting and hurling pots and pans at the actor. Fans of the franchise had since called for Heard to be removed from the franchise and be replaced by Momoa's "Game of Thrones" co-star Emilia Clarke, stating that the actress should also be punished after Depp was removed from the "Fantastic Beasts" franchise.
Heard confirmed in November last year that she was going to be in the sequel, telling the media, "Paid rumours and paid campaigns on social media don't dictate [casting decisions] because they have no basis in reality." On the other hand, Jason Momoa will be reprising his role in the second "Aquaman", and will be joined by fellow "Game of Thrones" alum and Danish actor, Pilou Asbaek.