Aquaman 2 director James Wan addresses rumors of Amber Heard's diminished role in the upcoming sequel

The first trailer for the final movie in the old DCEU movie lineup, Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom dropped recently and has suprisly received primarily positive reactions online.

The trailer focuses on Arthur Curry and how he balances between being a father and the king of Atlantis when the Black Manta returns with an ancient weapon to take revenge, forcing Arthur to team up with his estranged brother Orm to save the day.

The Buzz Surrounding Amber's Role

While there are a lot of rumors floating around about the movie, one thing on everyone's mind is whether or not Amber Heard's role as Meera had been cut from the movie, following her recent court battle with ex-husband Johnny Depp.

Adding fuel to the fire was the fact that Meera was almost completely missing from the trailer except for a blink-and-miss moment.

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Director's Take on the Controversy

In a recent interview, James Gunn finally addressed the rumor saying that the first movie was about the relationship between Aquaman and Meera and the sequel will focus on Arthur's relationship with his brother Orm.

So it seems like the rumors surrounding the movie are true and while from a story perspective, the diminished role of Amber Heard's character makes sense, it is also likely that there were other factors involved in her role being reduced.

Will Aquaman 2 turn things around for DC?

The last three DC movie releases have been both critical and commercial failures for the studio and with the recent reveal that multiple test screenings for Aquaman 2 have been negative, it remains to be seen if the sequel will recreate the success of 2017's Aquaman, which grossed a whopping one billion dollars worldwide.

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Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is directed by James Wan and stars Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe, Patrick Wilson, Dolph Lundgren, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Temuera Morrison, and Nicole Kidman.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is scheduled to hit theaters on December 20, 2023.