First Look At Amber Heard In Aquaman 2

Check out the first look at Amber Heard who returns in Aquaman 2 as Mera in three appearances in the new trailer.

Amber Heard was missing from Sunday’s teaser but is confirmed a part of the movie.

Watch the new trailer below.

Amber Heard appearance #1

The controversial actress first appears – blink and you might miss it – at the start of the trailer where it is revealed Arthur and Mera have a family and a child.

Jason Momoa, Temuera Morrison, Nicole Kidman, and Amber Heard can be seen at the family home.

Amber Heard appearance #2

The next appearance – blink and you might miss it – comes when Black Manta burns down the house, as Mera can be seen running to help out.

Amber Heard appearance #3

James Wan finally gives an official reveal of Amber Heard at the end of the trailer.

Mera smashes what may be the outside of Black Manta’s underwater vessel confirming her return at the end of the film in the major battle.

Was Amber Heard’s role reduced?

It does seem odd that Amber Heard and Mera aren’t really a part of the first act of the movie with the mention of the house and family, at least in the trailer, so maybe WB and Wan really did cut her role as it seems obvious Wan zoomed out to include a small look at Heard from only a distance.

During the Johnny Depp trial, a friend of Heard said her role as Mera had been “pared down” revealing details as to where is Mera.

“According to Ms. Heard, when she read the first script for Aquaman 2, she had a strong romantic arc the entire film and that she also got to do some great action sequences at the end of that storyline and that script. So she was featured predominantly throughout the script of Aquaman 2 when she first read it,” testified Kathryn Arnold.

Arnold continued, “She didn’t hear anything. She wasn’t getting the scripts when her colleagues were getting the scripts. She heard that through her agents, and then when she got the script, it was pared down from the first script, dramatically, they had her in the hospital in the first part of the movie called Act 1, they had her in the hospital, then they pretty much had her in the hospital, then she was going to do this action sequence in the end.”

Arnold added, “She trained five hours a day for several months with a trainer to do this big action sequence, and then when she got to set, two things happened, one, the costume designer said ‘I don’t know what happened to your role’ [Arnold added the costume designer said ‘it got diminished’ which the judge sustained/removed/didn’t allow]. More importantly though this big action sequence she was going to do at the end of the movie in the third act was cut out and they took it away from her. So it was radically reduced in the script from what it was she even trained for while she was preparing for the movie.”

Walter Hamada and James Wan say it was organic

However, then head of WB films Walter Hamada testified the reason her role had been reduced was because of the lack of chemistry they thought she had with Jason Momoa in the first movie.

In a recent interview with EW.com, Wan also said he always intended the sequel to be more of a buddy comedy film starring Momoa and Patrick Wilson.

“I always pitched this to everyone from the get-go,” Wan said. “The first Aquaman was Arthur and Mera’s journey. The second movie was always going to be Arthur and Orm. So, the first was a romance action-adventure movie, the second one is a bromance action-adventure movie.”

Nicole Kidman takes over

So with Amber Heard out, James Wan also recently revealed that with Willem Dafoe unable to return for the sequel, Nicole Kidman would take over the mentor role to Arthur, which suggests Wan chose Kidman to play the strong female role in the sequel and not Amber Heard.

“Willem is not in this one, no,” director James Wan filled in EW.com. “Part of the reason was because his schedule did not work out for us. But what that allowed me to do was expand on Atlanna’s role. Atlanna in this one ultimately becomes Arthur’s advisor. Because Arthur’s not from this world, she helps him better understand the world and the politics of how things work,” he said.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom gets released Dec. 20.