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Credit: Warner Bros. (L) / fmovies st, Flickr (R)Johnny Depp films are some of the most popular out there, but soon new Hollywood royalty Timothée Chalamet will replace the star in one of his iconic roles.
Actor Johnny Depp is slowly re-entering the entertainment industry following years of litigation relating to the domestic abuse allegations launched by his ex-wife Amber Heard.
The pair met on the set of The Rum Diary (2011) over 10 years ago and later married in 2015 following the breakdown of Depp’s relationship with Vanessa Paradis. Rumblings of domestic altercations would start after Heard filed for divorce in 2016, taking out a restraining order against Depp at the same time.
What followed was a series of court battles pertaining to the domestic violence allegations. In 2018, Heard published the infamous Op-Ed in The Washington Post, where she detailed being a victim of domestic and sexual violence. While Depp was not named, the actor sued his ex-wife for defamation in 2019.
In 2020, long before the defamation suit would see the inside of a courtroom, Depp issued a libel lawsuit against the British tabloid The Sun, and its parent group, News Group Newspapers LTD. After naming Depp a “wife-beater,” both parties went in front of Justice Andrew Nicol at the London High Court. Ultimately, it would not be Depp that came out the victor, and the Hollywood actor would also lose his appeal requests.
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This began the downfall of Depp’s career in Hollywood. Following the ruling in the United Kingdom, Depp was asked to resign from his role as the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter spinoff series, the Fantastic Beasts franchise. He would also not return to his beloved role of Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series.
While Mads Mikkelsen replaced Depp in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022), no successor yet — aside from the now-dead in the water Margot Robbie-led movie — has been revealed for Pirates of the Caribbean 6, or any future installments in The Walt Disney Company’s billion-dollar franchise. Depp, however, did speak out earlier this year about his Disney return.
But despite the controversies, Johnny Depp films have continued to remain popular. Even though his low-scale Minimata (2020) movie got seemingly buried, it came out in the top five of the Academy Awards’ controversial fan-voted categories, thanks to the neverending #JusticeForJohnnyDepp social media trends.
Likewise, his highly-anticipated return as King Louis XV post-defamation suit — where the jury largely sided with Depp in the Fairfax County, Virginia trial — in Jeanne du Barry (2023) opened the International Cannes Film Festival to a standing ovation. His appearance at Cannes, in addition to his backing by the festival’s director, is making it near impossible for Disney to ignore the demand for Depp’s return to the Pirates film series.
No one knows what’s next for the actor who’s currently on tour with the Hollywood Vampires, but what we do know is that one of Depp’s most iconic roles will soon be taken over by up-and-coming movie royalty.
Back in 2005, the string of popular Johnny Depp films grew when he became the new Willy Wonka for a new generation. Teaming back up with Tim Burton, who also worked together on movies like Edward Scissorhands (1990), Sleepy Hollow (1999), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), and Alice in Wonderland (2010), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) saw Depp take on the role made famous 30 years prior by the late Gene Wilder.
Based on Roald Dahl’s bestselling children’s novel, the story of a young boy who gets an elusive Golden Ticket to attend the mysterious Chocolate Factory has been in the pop culture canon for decades, and now a new set of audiences will get to experience the world through a whole new lens. And with a whole new Wonka.
Related: Johnny Depp Returning to Theaters as Captain Jack Sparrow
While trailer footage for Wonka (2023) has not yet reached the masses, a new logo update has been shared, as has information pertaining to the filmmaking process.
Paul King introducing the Wonka trailer to a select audience in London today. He joked his highlight making the film was covering Timothée Chalamet in chocolate. First proper image of the logo, lets hope fans get to see it soon
Paul King introducing the Wonka trailer to a select audience in London today. He joked his highlight making the film was covering Timothée Chalamet in chocolate. First proper image of the logo, lets hope fans get to see it soon pic.twitter.com/VBAZSrbaaM
— SparkleJar✨🔥✨🦴 (@sparklejar_) July 5, 2023
Wonka will be directed by Paul King and will star Timothée Chalamet in the title role as Willy Wonka. According to The Direct, King also revealed updates that Wonka would be a “companion” to both the Dahl novel and the Gene Wilder movie. However, for those that grew up with Johnny Depp as the vibrant chocolatier, Chalamet’s performance will likely end up being compared to the former’s, as opposed to Wilder’s.
The musical fantasy will act as a prequel to Dahl’s 1964 novel and feature Wonka’s early days as the eccentric candy maker. The movie, which is distributed by Warner Bros., is slated for a December 2023 release. Chalamet will be joined by Keegan-Michael Key, Rowan Atkinson, Sally Hawkins, Olivia Colman, and Jim Carter in the film, which has a screenplay by King and Simon Farnaby.
Will you be seeing Wonka this December? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!