By Josh Bate
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Ebenezer
After spending several years absent from mainstream Hollywood productions, Johnny Depp is making a significant return to major studio filmmaking by assuming one of cinema’s most recognizable literary characters in a fresh adaptation of one of England’s most treasured works.
Having devoted much of his recent career to independent productions and European cinema, Depp is stepping back into the Hollywood spotlight following the extraordinary international attention surrounding his 2022 defamation trial. His involvement alone has transformed this latest interpretation of A Christmas Carol into a highly anticipated cinematic undertaking, drawing considerable interest from studio executives, producers, filmmakers, and audiences alike. For many, the release represents an opportunity to discover whether Depp can reclaim the widespread affection he once enjoyed among moviegoers or whether public sentiment toward the actor has permanently shifted.
Adapted from Charles Dickens’ celebrated novella, Ebenezer features Depp as Ebenezer Scrooge, a wealthy but profoundly miserly man whose outlook on life is challenged by a series of supernatural encounters on Christmas Eve. After receiving a visit from the spirit of his former associate, portrayed by Ian McKellen, Scrooge is confronted by three additional apparitions representing Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come. Through these extraordinary encounters, he is forced to reconsider the bitterness, selfishness, and emotional detachment that have defined his existence and damaged his relationships with those around him, including his underappreciated employee Bob Cratchit (Rupert Grint), his nephew Fred (Sam Claflin), and Fred’s wife, Clara (Daisy Ridley).
While promotional material would suggest that Depp just takes on the role of the titular character in Ebenezer, he actually has another role in the film, playing a character few would expect him to undertake.
In the film’s final stretch, Scrooge is taken on an odyssey into his future by the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, a tall, mute, black-hooded figure. The ghost guides Scrooge through a future in which the grumpy businessman has died, yet his death inspires little affection or grief from others. This is emphasized as two women come to a pawn shop with some of Scrooge’s belongings that they wish to sell. As they sell the items, the women speak of how widely hated Scrooge was.
Scrooge then learns of the unfortunate fate of Tiny Tim, Bob Cratcht’s ill son. Devastated that the young boy met a premature end, Scrooge faces his own grave in a dark, moody cemetery. At this point, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come removes his hood to reveal the face of Scrooge, pale and with silver coins in the place of his eyes. This means that Johnny Depp plays both Ebenezer Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come in the film.
The fact that the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come shares the same appearance as Ebenezer himself is quite the departure from Dickens’ novella. In the original work, the spirit is an unknown, silent phantom, shrouded in a deep black hooded garment that resembles the Grim Reaper. But, in Ti West’s film, the spirit reveals himself to be Scrooge, albeit a decidedly different version that the protagonist audiences have followed for the whole film.
Over the years, some readers have speculated that the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is a representation of an unredeemed version of Scrooge. It would see that West endorses this theory.
Ebenezer is now in theaters.