During an exclusive presentation to CinemaCon audience members, Warner Bros released the first trailer for DC’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.
The sequel starring Jason Momoa as the underwater superhero also sees Amber Heard’s character Mera make a brief cameo, according to reports from the festival.
Heard’s role in the sequel came under question during her high-profile defamation trial with ex-husband Johnny Depp last year.
Deadlinereported Tuesday that Heard “does have a cameo” in the trailer “but in a battle scene”.
During the trial, Heard testified that her part in the film was significantly cut down after Depp’s legal team called her abuse claims a “hoax”.
“I fought really hard to stay in the movie. They didn’t want to include me in the film,” she said.
DC film head Walter Hamada was called to testify in court about Heard’s diminished screen time. He contradicted her legal team’s claim that the role was altered as a result of the allegations against Depp.
“The size of the role in the film that she has was determined in the early development of the script,” Hamada said at trial, citing a lack of chemistry between Heard and the film’s lead Jason Momoa as the reason behind her cut down screentime.
Amid the trial, a petition to remove Heard from Aquaman 2 entirely gained more than 4.5 million signatures.
Aquaman is DC’s highest-grossing movie to date, earning $1.1bn (£890m) worldwide.
Depp won his multimillion-dollar lawsuit against Heard after a jury ruled that her 2018 Washington Post article titled “I spoke up against sexual violence - and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change” was defamatory.
Heard was ordered to pay Depp $10m (£8.2m) in compensatory damages and $5m (£4.1m) in punitive damages. The latter sum was reduced to $350,000 (£287,000) to comply with a statutory cap.
Heard was awarded $2m (£1.6m) in damages in a counterclaim against Depp after his lawyer’s “hoax” usage was also found to be defamatory.
Only one of Heard’s co-stars from the Aquaman franchise has spoken publicly about working with her on the films. Dolph Lundgren said: “She was great. I worked with her on the first Aquaman, now the second one. We shot last fall in London. She’s terrific, I had a great experience with her.
“She’s very kind, nice to the crew, nice to everybody, just down to earth.”
Meanwhile, eagle-eyed fans noticed that Momoa began following Depp on Instagram while the trial was underway.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is set to be released in US cinemas on 25 December and in the UK on 29 December.
