Johnny Depp’s Sole Condition Before Saying Yes to an Iconic Cameo in Channing Tatum’s Hit ’21 Jump Street’ Gave the Movie its Funniest Scene

How Johnny Depp brought back the OG duo from ’21 Jump Street,’ the TV show.

Starring Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill, 21 Jump Street established itself as one of the best buddy cop action comedies out there.

However, some may not know that the film is actually an adaptation of the namesake television series which ran from 1987 to 1991.

The series starred Johnny Depp as Officer Thomas “Tom” Hanson Jr. and was responsible for turning him into a teen idol.

A still from 21 Jump Street (2012)| Credit: Columbia Pictures.
After a little over two decades passed since he last played Officer Tom Hanson, Johnny Depp made a return to the franchise in the 2012 action comedy.

While his time in the film was limited, the cameo was as iconic as it gets.

However, he had one condition before he said yes to the part.

Johnny Depp’s Wholesome Condition for 21 Jump Street

Johnny Depp and Peter DeLuise’s cameo in 21 Jump Street | Columbia Pictures.
Johnny Depp was amazing in 21 Jump Street, the television series, there is no doubt about that.

Thus, when Phil Lord and Christopher Miller decided to bring in an element from the original series to their film, Depp seemed like the obvious choice.

However, before Depp could say yes to the cameo, he had a small condition that he wanted fulfilled.

No, he did not want a hefty paycheck nor did he have any diva-like demands from the directors.

He simply wanted his partner from the series back – Peter DeLuise and his Officer Douglas “Doug” Penhall.

Luckily for Depp, the team of 21 Jump Street was already thinking about bringing DeLuise back for a cameo anyway.

In a bonus featurette, Johnny Depp on Set, available on the film’s Blu-Ray release, producer Tania Ladau stated,

We approached him when we thought the script was in really good shape and he said there was a condition he would only do it if Peter DeLuise was gonna do it.

We were gonna ask Peter DeLuise to do it anyway so it was perfect.

Thus, the team of 21 Jump Street had no problem fulfilling Depp’s wholesome wish and as a result, we got an iconic cameo from not only Depp but DeLuise as well.

Johnny Depp Wanted His Character to Die in the Movie

Johnny Depp and Peter DeLuise in the 21 Jump Street TV series (1987-1991) | Stephen J. Cannell Productions.
Depp and DeLuise reprised their iconic roles of Officer Hanson and Penhall and went undercover as members of the motorcycle gang led by DeRay Davis’ Domingo.

The gang gets into a stand-off with Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill’s Schmidt and Jenko and this is when Hanson and Penhall reveal themselves.

Unfortunately, it didn’t end well for the two characters.

In the featurette, Lord and Miller stated that when they heard Depp was interested in a cameo, they tried to come up with ways they could include him in the film.

In the end, they decided that it would be best to just bring his OG character back…and then kill him.

While this may have been a dealbreaker for some actors, Depp actually wanted to go down this path himself.

As Hill said in the featurette,

Luckily, that’s what he wanted.

So, our original idea was that he’s about to say his first word in the movie and my gun goes off and I shoot him in the face and kill him.

That was our original idea.

Well, that would have been absolutely brutal.

We are glad Depp was able to get in a few lines before he and DeLuise’s Penhall were fatally shot.

Rent/buy 21 Jump Street on Prime Video. The television series is available to stream on Peacock and Prime Video.