While there was a time when Jason Momoa was best known from TV shows like Baywatch: Hawaii, Stargate: Atlantis and Game of Thrones, these days, the actor primarily claim to fame is playing Aquaman in the DC Extended Universe. But Momoa’s connection to the character isn’t just limited to onscreen work, at least when it comes to the upcoming DC movie Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. He also has a ‘Story By credit on the sequel, and while speaking with CinemaBlend, director James Wan revealed the aspect of the actor he leaned into the most while working on Aquaman 2.
Our own Sean O’Connell had the opportunity to speak with Wan ahead of The Lost Kingdom’s arrival, with this entry on the 2023 release schedule marking the conclusion of the DCEU era. During the conversation, Sean asked what it was like for Wan getting to collaborate with Momoa on the sequel’s story, as the filmmaker was also involved with this portion of the creative process alongside scriptwriter David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick and Momoa’s friend Thomas Pa'a Sibbett. Wan started off by saying:
Very early on, Jason came in, and he was working with a friend of his. They were thinking of different story ideas, and stuff like that. When we all sat down together, we listened to them, and all the different ideas that they had, and we thought they had a lot of really cool, interesting angles and perspective. Obviously Jason has a vision of how he would like Arthur to grow in this next one. And I think it's great. And (so) David Leslie Johnson, the screenwriter, and myself just realized we are just going to lean into Momoa and build the movie around who he is. We really welcome his ideas and thoughts. It was a collaborative process, ultimately.
Aquaman 2 was officially greenlit in February 2019 following Aquaman hitting $1 billion worldwide and becoming DC’s highest-grossing movie ever. But even before the sequel started moving forward, Jason Momoa thought up a story idea with Thomas Pa'a Sibbett for it and pitched his vision to Warner Bros. executives. It was compelling enough that James Wan and David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick crafted the entire narrative out of what the other men came up with, and by May 2019, Momoa shared that the Aquaman 2 story was “locked.”
In the years to follow, among the things we learned about Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom was that in addition to placing Black Manta as the main antagonist and pairing Arthur Curry and his brother Orm together as allies, we’ll also see Arthur taking care of his newborn son. Given that Momoa is also a father, James Wan felt it was important to highlight that aspect of the real man onto the character he’s been playing since Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. As Wan told CinemaBlend:
It's just really who he is. He loves his kids, and being a father means the world to him. And so that was easy for us to go, ‘Okay, we can see Arthur – in the first one, he was this single, happy-go-lucky kind of guy. Shooting from the hip. And this one, he now has responsibilities. He has responsibilities as the king of Atlantis. But he also has domestic duties as well, like changing diapers at home, and feeding the child, and all that stuff. That was the stuff that Jason ultimately brought to it, that we thought was a lot of fun, (and) that we wanted to play into.
While it remains to be seen if that disturbing rumor concerning Aquaman’s son comes true, it is nice to hear that him being a father will get a significant amount of screen time alongside exploring his duties as Atlantis’ king. Additionally, Jason Momoa said back in 2022 that The Lost Kingdom will nod at one of his real-life passions, climate change. Mom is joined in the Aquaman 2 cast by returning faces like Patrick Wilson, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Nicole Kidman and Amber Heard (albeit in a reduced role), and newcomers like Vincent Regan and Indya Moore.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom opens in theaters on December 20, so feel free to stream Aquaman (or any of the DC movies in order) beforehand with a Max subscription. Following its release, the DC Universe Chapter One slate will get underway with projects like Creature Commandos and Superman: Legacy, and it’s rumored that Momoa will retire from being Aquaman and start playing Lobo in this new continuity.
