If you looked closely amid the cosplayers walking the streets of San Diego this afternoon, you might have found a familiar face hidden under old-age makeup.
Johnny Depp appeared as Ebenezer Scrooge, the classic Charles Dickens character he plays in his Hollywood comeback vehicle, Ebenezer. Appropriately, it took place in front of the Gaslamp Quarter pop-up shop Scrooge and Marley.
His appearance was not announced ahead of time, and the movie has no panel at Comic-Con. Still, by the time he showed up, fans had gathered, apparently having gotten wind that something might happen.
Later, Depp surprised audiences in Hall H at the very end of an unrelated Directors on Directing panel to debut the trailer. It began with a line that may double as commentary on his absence from Hollywood movies for nearly a decade: “It’s good to be back.”
Depp was last at Comic-Con in July 2018, when he showed up in Hall H as the titular villain in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. Two years later, Warner Bros. asked Depp to resign from the franchise after he lost a court case relating to his acrimonious split from ex-wife Amber Heard. In the years since, he has largely been absent from Hollywood, though he has starred in indie and international productions.
That is no longer the case, with Paramount’s Ebenezer arriving on Nov. 13. That will be followed by another studio movie, Lionsgate’s Day Drinker, due out in 2027. His San Diego appearance comes after he first showed off Ebenezer in April at CinemaCon.
X filmmaker Ti West directs Ebenezer, which also starsAndrea Riseboroughas the Ghost of Christmas Past, Tramell Tillman as the Ghost of Christmas Present,Ian McKellenas Jacob Marley andRupert Grintas Bob Cratchit.
Stars are known for hiding in plain sight at Comic-Con, with Bryan Cranston (wearing a Walter White mask), Jack Black (dressed as a Stormtrooper) and Henry Cavill (sporting a Guy Fawkes mask) all walking around incognito at the convention in years past.