Paul Bettany Breaks His Silence on Johnny Depp Texts as ‘VisionQuest’ Faces Boycott Calls

Paul Bettany’s return as Vision should be a victory lap. ‘VisionQuest‘ landed on Disney+ on Oct. 14, closing out the trilogy that began with ‘WandaVision’ in 2021 and continued with ‘Agatha All Along’ in 2024, with Terry Matalas as showrunner and James Spader back as Ultron.

Bettany has called the series a huge creative swing, and he has also said he expects to appear in ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’. Marvel’s next steps are laid out, with ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ arriving Dec. 18 and ‘Secret Wars’ following on Dec. 17, 2027. At a London premiere, Bettany also reflected on how Marvel transformed his career after a producer once told him it was over.

As the show premieres, however, an older controversy has resurfaced. Social media users have called for viewers to boycott the series because of private text messages Bettany exchanged with Johnny Depp more than a decade ago, and Bettany has now addressed that history again.

In a new interview with The Times, Bettany said he hadn’t spoken to Depp in years when the messages became public, and that he hasn’t spoken to him since. He said being painted as a close friend of someone he hadn’t spoken to in years was the strangest part of the whole episode, amid everything else that was being thrown around between the two celebrities.

The messages date back to 2013 and were read aloud in 2020 during Depp’s unsuccessful libel case against The Sun, which he sued over a 2018 column that called him a wife beater. The exchange included graphic remarks about Depp’s then-fiancée, Amber Heard, that Depp suggested burning her and Bettany responded with comments about drowning her. Depp has repeatedly denied allegations that he attacked Heard.

Depp told the court that his friendship with Bettany was built on a shared abstract sense of humor for coping with difficult situations, and that the messages reflected that dynamic. Bettany has always described the situation as uncomfortable rather than something he wanted to defend.

This isn’t the first time Bettany has addressed the issue. In a 2021 interview, he called it embarrassing to have the messages discussed in court, adding that we live in a world without context. He explained that he hadn’t known Depp during the marriage to Heard, since the two hadn’t spoken for years during that time, so he wasn’t around for any of it.

He also said that few people would feel comfortable having a team of lawyers scour their private text messages. In a later interview with The Telegraph, he called the resurfacing of the texts strange and embarrassing and asked what it would be like to have lawyers go through a decade of your emails and texts.

The comments sit in awkward contrast to Bettany’s public support for Depp earlier. In 2016, he wrote on Twitter that he had known Depp for years and through several relationships, calling him the sweetest, kindest and gentlest man he’d ever known. Critics have pointed to that post as inconsistent with his later statements about their distance.

Bettany and Depp worked together on several films, including ‘The Tourist’ in 2010 and ‘Mortdecai’ in 2015. They were close friends at one point, but Bettany now describes the relationship as long over. He has also spoken about living a quiet life, and he has been married to actress Jennifer Connelly since 2003.

The renewed attention arrives at a delicate time. ‘VisionQuest’ is one of Marvel’s major fall releases, and Bettany has been doing a wave of press for it, from podcast interviews to red-carpet appearances. Questions about his past messages now follow him into those conversations.

Reviews for ‘VisionQuest’ have been varied, with some praising its themes and performances and others finding it uneven. Marvel has not commented on the boycott calls, and the show’s episodes continue to roll out weekly.

The first trailer for #VisionQuest, premiering October 14 on Disney+. https://t.co/jIcsJ2Iarl

— Rotten Tomatoes 🍅 (@RottenTomatoes) August 15, 2026

For Bettany, the goal is likely to keep the focus on Vision’s story and on the character he has played for over a decade. Whether the renewed discussion fades or lingers may depend on how audiences respond over the coming weeks.

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