For decades, Aquaman didn’t earn nearly as much respect as fellow Justice Leaguers like Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman, but in late 2018, he became a box office king. Following Jason Momoa’s outings as Arthur Curry in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League, he took center stage for Aquaman, which collected over $1.1 billion worldwide and became DC’s highest-grossing movie yet. So it’s no surprise that Warner Bros greenlit Aquaman 2, and years later, we finally know what this sequel officially called thanks to director James Wan.
Taking to his Instagram page, James Wan, who directed Aquaman and is reprising his helming duties for the sequel, revealed that Arthur Curry’s next cinematic adventure will be called Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom. See for yourself!
So now that we know to call this sequel Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom, what exactly is the Lost Kingdom? Well, in the first Aquaman movie, it was said that there were seven Atlantean kingdoms were established after the fall of the original Atlantean empire: Atlantis itself, Xebel, the Brine, the Fishermen, the Trench, the Deserters and the Lost Kingdom. Evidently we’ll be exploring that latter domain in Aquaman 2, with its existence being rediscovered after centuries, if not millennia of being missing. Of course, that just poses more questions. Where is it? Why was is lost? What threats rest in the Lost Kingdom? We’ll learn the answers in approximately a year and a half.
An Aquaman sequel has been on the official DC Extended Universe docket since January 2019, with James Wan being courted back to the director’s chair and David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, who co-wrote the first movie, also returning to pen the sequel. Along with Aquaman 2, there were also plans to expand the underwater corners of the DCEU with a spinoff centered on The Trench. However, that spinoff was canceled in April, though that’s not to say that these monsters couldn’t resurface in Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom.
As for who’s joining Jason Momoa on camera in Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom, we’ll reunite with Amber Heard’s Mera, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s Black Manta and Patrick Wilson’s Ocean Master, while Game of Thrones alum Pilou Asbaek was reportedly in talks to come aboard last April. Assuming Asbaek finalized a deal, maybe he’s playing a character who lives in the Lost Kingdom and crosses paths with Arthur Curry as either a friend or foe. Although it’s not like Arthur needs more of the latter, as the Aquaman mid-credits scene showed Black Manta agreeing to show Dr. Stephen Shin the location of Atlantis in exchange for the marine biologist helping him exact revenge our half-human/half-Atlantean hero.
While we wait for more updates concerning Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom, which opens in theaters on December 16, 2022, keep checking with CinemaBlend for news about other upcoming DC Comics movies.
