Johnny Depp’s Hollywood Comeback

Johnny Depp is making a major Hollywood comeback with his biggest project since the high-profile and bitter defamation lawsuit with ex-wife Amber Heard.

Paramount Pictures, now led by David Ellison, is finalizing a deal to produce a fresh adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic, A Christmas Carol. The new film, titled Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol, will be directed by horror filmmaker Ti West, known for X, Pearl, and MaXXXine, with a scheduled release date of November 13, 2026.

Andrea Riseborough is also set to star, alongside a script by Nathaniel Halpern, and production by Emma Watts, who briefly oversaw Paramount’s film division.

Paramount describes the film as “a thrilling ghost story set in Dickens’ London, following one man’s supernatural journey to confront his past, present, and future, and fight for a second chance.” With Depp portraying Ebenezer Scrooge, the storyline mirrors Depp’s own Hollywood journey—from box-office giant in Pirates of the Caribbean, Alice in Wonderland, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, to a period of professional uncertainty following his legal battles with Heard.

After being dismissed from Warner Bros.’ Fantastic Beasts franchise in 2020, Depp shifted focus to international cinema, starring in the period drama Jeanne du Barry, which premiered at Cannes in 2023. At the premiere, he remarked, “I don’t feel boycotted, because I don’t think about Hollywood. I don’t feel much further need for Hollywood — I don’t know about you.”

Depp later starred in the Lionsgate thriller Day Drinker, marking a tentative Hollywood return. Ebenezer was shot earlier this year and is expected in 2026. The project was initially pitched to Hollywood during the summer, just before Skydance’s acquisition of Paramount, which temporarily paused deal-making. Ultimately, the Depp-West collaboration proved too compelling to pass up, leading Paramount to greenlight the film.