Actor Johnny Depp’s exile from Hollywood is coming to an end after a famed director has seemingly confirmed his next major role.
Actor Johnny Depp is currently living in Somerset, England, in the United Kingdom. Speaking out on his exile from Hollywood, Depp acknowledged that he preferred the slower lifestyle of the English countryside, which came as a result of his high-profile court cases over the last three years. The star, however, did go on tour with the Hollywood Vampires this past few months.
In 2020, the Pirates of the Caribbean star lost his libel trial in London; the actor had sued The Sun newspaper and its owner, News Group Newspapers LTD, after the publication called him a “wife-beater.” As a result of his loss and his failed appeal request, Depp was asked to resign from his role as the villain and dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter spinoff, the Fantastic Beasts franchise.
The “wife-beater” allegations came as a result of Depp’s former wife, Amber Heard, claiming the actor had physically and verbally abused her during their relationship, including their short marriage between 2015 and 2016. Depp condemned Heard’s accusations and, following her penning of the now-disclaimed Op-Ed in The Washington Post, sued his ex-wife for defamation. An action which resulted in a six-week trial in Fairfax County, Virginia, presided over by Judge Penney Azcarate.
Following his ousting from the Fantastic Beasts franchise, Depp has not yet reappeared in a Hollywood film or franchise. His loss in London also seemingly confirmed his exit from the Pirates of the Caribbean series, where he played the role of Captain Jack Sparrow in all five of the Disney franchise’s movies — Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006), Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007), Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011), and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017).
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Many of Depp’s loyal fans have called out the fact that Depp was removed from Warner Bros.’s Wizarding World, while Heard, who was found guilty of defaming Depp in June last year on all three of the listed counts, continues in their employ for the DC Extended Universe. Her next appearance, a seemingly reduced one at that, will be in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023) with Jason Momoa later this month.
In the defamation trial in the United States, Depp’s role as Captain Jack Sparrow came up multiple times. Heard’s lawyer asked if the actor would return to the Disney franchise for $300 million and 1 million alpacas, to which Depp stated he would not. According to sources close to the star, though, that has now changed. This, along with producer Jerry Bruckheimer’s comments that he would love to work with Depp on Pirates of the Caribbean 6, is the closest fans of the franchise have of the actor returning to his role of Jack Sparrow.
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So, while Depp appears in more quiet films like Minamata (2020) and Jeanne du Barry (2023) — which opened the Canne Film Festival — and directs his next film, Modi (TBD) starring Al Pacino, news has surfaced that seemingly confirms Depp’s return to the Hollywood scene.
While at the Red Sea Film Festival, where Johnny Depp also attended (and sent the internet into a craze after appearing with Will Smith), director Terry Gilliam stated that he had tapped Depp to play Satan in his upcoming movie, Carnival at the End of Days (TBD). “Gilliam summarized the plot as: “God wipes out humanity, and the only character who wants to save them is Satan, and Johnny Depp plays Satan,” writes Variety.
“This is a simple tale of God wiping out humanity for fucking up his beautiful garden Earth,” Gilliam told the outlet. “There’s only one character who’s trying to save humanity, and that’s Satan because without humanity, he’s lost his job, and he’s an eternal character, and so to live without a job is terrible. So he finds some young people, and he tries to convince God that these young people are the new Adam and Eve. God still gets to wipe out humanity. It’s a comedy.”
This is as close to a confirmation of Depp returning to Hollywood as anyone is going to get at the moment. Gilliam is known for his interesting film slate, which includes Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), 12 Monkeys (1995), Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), The Brothers Grimm (2005), and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009).
There has been no comment from Johnny Depp on his role as Satan in Carnival at the End of Days at the time of publication.
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