Johnny Depp's Big Return: Why His Scrooge Role Is a Hollywood Comeback

Johnny Depp tapped to star in 'Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol'

Los Angeles, Oct 24

Horror auteur Ti West is directing from a script by Nathaniel Halpern, and Andrea Riseborough is set to co-star, reports ‘Variety’.

Emma Watts is producing, and Stephen Deuters and Jason Forman are executive producers. Should the deal close, the studio is looking to release the project on November 13, 2026.

As per ‘Variety’, Johnny Depp will play the titular role of Ebenezer Scrooge, a misanthropic and miserly businessman in 19th century London who is visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future in an effort to save himself from an afterlife of torment.

The character has been a mainstay of holiday cinema for decades, including in the classic 1951 adaptation starring Alastair Sim, 1988’s ‘Scrooged’ with Bill Murray, 1992’s ‘A Muppet Christmas Carol’ with Michael Caine, and 2009’s ‘A Christmas Carol’ with Jim Carrey.

‘Nosferatu’ director Robert Eggers is also developing his own take on the story at Warner Bros., with Willem Dafoe circling the role of Scrooge. The film would mark Johnny Depp’s first role from a major studio since 2018’s ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald’. He was fired from that franchise after he lost a libel case against the British tabloid The Sun, which had called the actor a “wife beater” in 2018 following allegations of domestic abuse by his ex-wife Amber Heard.

In a separate U.S. trial in 2022, both Johnny Depp and Heard were found to have defamed each other. Johnny Depp’s since starred in a handful of independent films, and he recently shot the thriller ‘Day Drinker’ for Lionsgate opposite Penelope Cruz, which is also expected to premiere in 2026.

— IANS