'Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom': First trailer shows Amber Heard's brief appearance as Mera
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: The first trailer for the long-awaited and much-talked-about 'Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom' was shown on April 25 during a presentation by Warner Bros. at CinemaCon, a yearly movie theater convention held in Las Vegas. The upcoming movie is a sequel to 'Aquaman,' which starred Jason Momoa as the titular character Arthur Curry aka Aquaman.
The trailer for 'Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom' featured Jason Momoa, Patrick Wilson, Yahya Abdul-Mateen, Temuera Morrison, and Dolph Lundgren, as well as Amber Heard, who was speculated to have been minimized from the film complying with her infamous defamation trial with her former husband and actor Johnny Depp.
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Amber Heard makes an appearance in a brief underwater shot
Amber Heard, who played Mera, Aquaman's love interest in 2018's 'Aquaman,' made an appearance in two brief shots of the trailer shown at CinemaCon. Mera made her debut in the 2017 film 'Justice League' before starring in 'Aquaman'. It should be noted that the footage shown at the presentation will not be made available immediately, but multiple sources confirmed that Heard was visible in a brief shot, confirming her continued role in the film. Mera is seen in one shot punching a window out of an underwater craft to get inside, and in another, she is seen firing a blast from her trident. It certainly appears Mera will be in some trouble.
Amber Heard stated during her defamation trial with Johnny Depp in May 2022 that she had fought very hard to stay in the film because the producers did not want to include her. The actress explained that her scenes, particularly one in which she filmed an action sequence with another character, were cut from the film. The actress stated at the time that she is unsure whether she will appear in the sequel or not, but according to sources, she may appear for a brief moment in the film. Her lawyers claimed at the time that this was due in part to a campaign against her. WB executives testified that it was because of a lack of chemistry between herself and Jason Momoa.
Rumors indicated that Heard's character may get wounded early on in the forthcoming 'Aquaman' film, which is why her role isn't more significant. While the scenes shown at CinemaCon do not directly verify the rumor, they also do not dispute it. Mera was only in just a tiny amount of the footage shown at CinemaCon, which could suggest that she will not play an important part in the film overall. She doesn't appear in any scenes with Aquaman or Orm, who appear to be occupying the spotlight in the new film.
Spotlight on Arthur and Orm
According to multiple sources, the first trailer shown at CinemaCon was heavily dominated by Arthur (Momoa) and Orm (Wilson) and their internal battles while attempting to unite against Black Manta, who is attempting to unleash some ancient evil. According to Collider's Steve Weintraub, who attended CinemaCon, director James Wan told the audience in a special message that "this sequel has everything we love about the first film and more” adding that the audience will not only take a detour to Atlantis but also "get to visit beautiful strange new worlds".
The sequel film has been described as a story set between the brothers, and Weintraub stated that the film seemed to be on a massive scale, with an abundance of action. Depending on how well 'Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom' perform monetary and critically, Momoa's future in the new DC Universe may be established.
The film 'Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom' will be released in theaters on December 20, 2023.
