SAN DIEGO — It's Christmas in July at San Diego Comic-Con.
Johnny Depp stunned fans at the convention on July 23 by showing up unannounced at a completely unrelated panel in character as Ebenezer Scrooge, from his upcoming movie "Ebenezer."
Depp, in full Scrooge getup with a top hat, cane and candle, appeared on stage to conclude Collider's Directors on Directing panel, which otherwise had nothing to do with Depp or Scrooge: It focused on a conversation with Zach Cregger and filmmaking duo Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley about their careers and upcoming movies "Resident Evil" and "Mayday," respectively.
As the conversation was wrapping up, the lights suddenly went out in the room before the words "Johnny Depp is Ebenezer" came up on the convention
hall screen. Depp then stepped out onto the stage to deliver a monologue in character as the "A Christmas Character" curmudgeon.
"Have you all no lives?" he asked the crowd of Comic-Con attendees. "No responsibility? … Why are you here? Well, I don't really care, but as a matter of fact, since you have traveled all this way, I would like to? … present each and every one of you with this candy."
Depp proceeded to pull out candy and throw it onto the stage before he wandered away, as the sounds of chains and a voice calling out Scrooge's name could be heard. "Oh, not again. Jacob Marley," he said as he exited to applause from the crowd.
After Depp left, the first trailer for "Ebenezer" played. It was also released online.
"Ebenezer," from director Ti West, is Depp's first major Hollywood movie in years following his defamation trial with ex-wife Amber Heard, a high-profile case in which both actors accused each other of domestic abuse.
The trailer leans heavily into the meta idea that Depp himself has returned. It opens with text on screen referencing Depp's most iconic movie characters: "He brought us Jack Sparrow, Edward Scissorhands and the Mad Hatter. This Thanksgiving, the master of misfits returns."
"It's good to be back," Depp then says as Scrooge, a line that could be read as being said by the actor himself.
He also made an appearance as Scrooge in front of a crowd gathered at an installation in San Diego as part of the convention.
"Ebenezer" hits theaters on Nov. 13.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Johnny Depp crashes Comic-Con panel as Ebenezer Scrooge
