Despite an extended and extremely public legal battle over domestic abuse allegations from his ex-wife Amber Heard, Johnny Depp continues to leave his mark on pop-culture—specifically, children’s programming. He will likely return in the third Fantastic Beasts film—although that prospect reportedly has some execs nervous—and now he’s landed the lead role in a children’s series, Puffins—although the details might not be what you’d expect.
According to Variety, Puffins “will be a mobile-first, short-form toon series consisting of 250 five-minute episodes that follow the adventures of a group of cute birds, who are the servants of the wily walrus Otto.” So, basically a Quibi series—although unsurprisingly, Italian studio Iervolino Entertainment made no reference to the ill-fated streaming platform, which seemed to prove there’s less of an appetite for such projects than its execs had hoped.
Anyway, in a statement, Iervolino said the show “will promote positive messaging,” incorporating “themes such as gender and race equality and environmental protection.” No word yet on what kind of message they thought casting Depp would send.
Heard and Depp married in 2015. A year later Heard obtained a restraining order against Depp, and released photos of her injured face after an alleged altercation. Heard alleged that while using a mixture of illegal narcotics and prescription medications, Depp would become “a totally different person” and would physically abuse her. Depp has consistently denied the claims. The two divorced in 2017, and last year Depp filed a defamation suit against Heard.
