Aquaman and DC Studios chaos is not Amber Heard’s fault

Despite new management brought on to right the ship, DC Studios continues to be kind of a mess. James Gunn and Peter Safran were saddled with the dregs of DC’s previous slate, a set of underperforming blockbusters that have bogged down the studio’s attempted rebirth. Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom is the latest of these, and it has already been mired in its own drama, much of it to do with Mera, a.k.a. Amber Heard.

A new Variety piece contextualizes some of the Aquaman 2 chaos, unfortunately drawing on conversations Heard had with her therapist that were submitted to the court during her legal battle with ex-husband Johnny Depp. (A group of Depp fans paid the court fees to get the documents released.) “Jason said he wanted me fired,” the notes from Heard’s therapist say of Jason Momoa. She further accuses the star of being drunk and late to set, and even “Dressing like Johnny. Has all the rings too.”

A Variety insider denied the accusations, claiming the pair got along and Momoa was never drunk on set, and never meant to dress like Depp (“He has always dressed in that bohemian style”). It should be noted that these were the private musings of a person emerging from an alleged abusive relationship, never meant to be shared with the public. (Heard’s legal team apparently fought the documents’ release.) Seeing a resemblance in the dress between her co-star and an ex is something someone has every right to discuss with their therapist, without it becoming a referendum on anyone’s character.

Momoa wanting Heard fired is a slightly different story. It was previously reported that Heard’s role in the Aquaman sequel was reduced amid her legal issues; now, the therapy notes mention director James Wan raising his voice at Heard on set, suggesting more behind-the-scenes tensions. While a DC spokesperson vouched for the professionalism and respectfulness of both Wan and Momoa, sources claim Heard was nearly fired, though they assert it wasn’t her personal life but a lack of chemistry with Momoa that was the problem. According to a source for the outlet, Heard’s former boyfriend, Elon Musk, had a litigator send a “scorched-earth letter to Warner Bros. threatening to burn the house down” if she wasn’t brought back for the sequel.

But not everything is about Amber Heard—in fact, Aquaman and DC’s issues aren’t really about Amber Heard at all. According to Variety, the film just hasn’t tested that well, prompting reshoots. “[No] one really wants to take ownership” of the movie amid the studio’s turmoil, and Momoa—as well as Snyderverse co-stars Ezra Miller, Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, and Gal Gadot—won’t be returning as any of the members of the Justice League.

Variety does add some fuel to the fire of the rumors that Momoa will return as Lobo instead of Aquaman, and to the rumors that Warner Bros. as a whole may be bought by Universal. In other words: there’s a lot going on over at DC, and most of it has nothing to do with Amber Heard at all. Whether Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom succeeds or fails will be a reflection of the studio’s struggle to find its footing and not the invaded privacy of a woman whose business has been plastered over the Internet for years now.