Johnny Depp Unites Star Wars and Harry Potter Legends in A Christmas Carol
Johnny Depp steps into Scrooge’s shoes in Paramount’s Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol as Daisy Ridley boards the cast. Pearl director Ti West steers Nathaniel Halpern’s script toward a November release next year.
Johnny Depp is suiting up as Ebenezer Scrooge for Paramount, and Daisy Ridley just climbed aboard. Yes, that combo is real. The studio is mounting a fresh take on Dickens with Ti West directing, and it hits right in the middle of holiday season next year.
The project
'Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol' is a new adaptation of the classic, directed by 'Pearl' filmmaker Ti West from a screenplay by Nathaniel Halpern. Paramount has it dated for November 13, 2026.
Who is in it
- Johnny Depp as Ebenezer Scrooge
- Daisy Ridley (recently added, per Deadline)
- Rupert Grint
- Sam Claflin
- Charlie Murphy
- Arthur Conti
- Ellie Bamber
- Andrea Riseborough
- Ian McKellen
- Tramell Tillman
Why this matters
This is Depp stepping back into a major studio lead after years on the sidelines following the public legal mess with Amber Heard. He did headline 2023's 'Jeanne du Barry' (which split critics right down the middle), but this is the first big Hollywood swing since then. Also, while Depp is not exactly known for cheerful holiday fare, movies like 'Edward Scissorhands' and 'Corpse Bride' have turned into seasonal staples, so a Christmas comeback is oddly on brand.
The industry chatter
There is some speculative buzz about what this means for Depp's larger return. Take it with a healthy grain of salt, but the National Enquirer ran a sourced claim framing this as a make-or-break move:
"Johnny sees this movie as the first step in a complete return to movie star status. If he books another big film to shoot in 2026 after he wraps this one, then he really is back in Hollywood's good graces. But if he doesn't, that's going to mean that the comeback experiment failed."
Does it have a shot?
With Ti West steering, a stacked cast (Ridley, Grint, Claflin, McKellen, Riseborough — not exactly lightweight), and Dickens' most reliable holiday IP, the package makes sense. Whether it fully resets Depp's status is the big question, but the pieces are in place for a crowd-pleasing, studio-scale Christmas play.
'Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol' opens November 13, 2026.