Johnny Depp surprises Comic-Con as Ebenezer Scrooge, unveils first trailer for 'Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol'

Surprise on the streets

On Thursday, July 23, hundreds of fans began lining up outside a shopfront labeled "Scrooge and Marley" in San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter shortly after noon. Paramount Pictures had transformed the area into a Victorian Christmas village, with carolers in period dress singing holiday songs. At around 2:30 p.m., Johnny Depp emerged in full Ebenezer Scrooge costume: a top hat, cane, heavy coat, gray beard, and a prosthetic nose that made him nearly unrecognizable. The 63-year-old actor stayed in character throughout, mumbling and shuffling with a candle. When a fan called out "Guten Tag, Mr. Scrooge," he shot back, "What's so good about it?"

Have you no jobs? It seems as though you have so much spare time.

Later that afternoon, Depp crashed a Collider Directors on Directing panel, still in costume. He handed his candle to director John Francis Daley and turned to the audience: "Have you no lives? No responsibilities?" The appearance was his first at Comic-Con since July 2018, when he promoted Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald in Hall H.

The film and its cast

Paramount released the first trailer for Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol immediately after the street stunt. Directed by Ti West, the film is a dark reimagining of Charles Dickens' classic, with a gothic visual style reminiscent of Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd. The trailer shows Depp's Scrooge tormented by spirits, throwing snowballs at a couple, and sinking into a bed. It opens with a montage of Depp's past iconic roles (Jack Sparrow, Edward Scissorhands) before he turns to the camera and says, "It's good to be back."

It's good to be back.

The cast includes Ian McKellen as Jacob Marley, Rupert Grint as Bob Cratchit, Andrea Riseborough as the Ghost of Christmas Past, and Tramell Tillman as the Ghost of Christmas Present. Sam Claflin, Daisy Ridley, Arthur Conti, Ellie Bamber, Henry Lloyd-Hughes, and Charlie Murphy also appear. McKellen told Variety in April that Depp was "spritzig, witzig, respektlos, ernst - alles zugleich" (lively, funny, irreverent, serious - all at once) and that despite being on set only six days, he found the atmosphere exceptionally warm.

A Hollywood return after years away

Ebenezer marks Depp's first major studio film since 2019's Waiting for the Barbarians. His career was derailed by a protracted legal fight with ex-wife Amber Heard. In 2022, a Virginia jury found both liable for defamation; Depp was awarded $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages, while Heard received $2 million in compensatory damages. Warner Bros. had already asked Depp to resign from the Fantastic Beasts franchise in 2018 after he lost a UK libel case, and he was replaced by Mads Mikkelsen. In the intervening years, he appeared in smaller international productions such as Minamata and Jeanne du Barry, and directed the indie film Modì, Three Days on the Wing of Madness.

What comes next

Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol opens in U.S. theaters on November 13, 2026. Depp is also set to star in Lionsgate's action-thriller Day Drinker, alongside Madelyn Cline and Penélope Cruz, expected in 2027. The Comic-Con activation, which drew fans in 80-degree heat, is part of a carefully staged comeback campaign by Paramount.