The winter’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom may have drawn the short end of the stick when it comes to upcoming DC movies considering the flick directed by James Wan will mark the final entry in a universe that is about to press the reboot button. Ahead of Jason Momoa’s latest outing as Arthur Curry hitting theaters in just a couple of months, Wan spoke to his thoughts on returning to direct a third Aquaman movie.
Along with talking about a host of rumors around Aquaman 2’s production, James Wan shared his current stance on returning to Atlantis for another sequel after The Lost Kingdom. In his words:
I haven’t directed a third movie [in a series] before, so I’d be open to doing another [Aquaman] if I got the same freedom I’ve had on these first two. I’m not sure what direction [James Gunn and Peter Safran] are going in, though, so who knows? I’ve learned to never say never.
During an interview with Empire, Wan left things open-ended when it comes to his future with the Aquaman movies. As he said, he’s actually never ended up helming a second sequel to one of his franchises, which of course includes the hugely popular Conjuring universe, but he’s not one to discount an opportunity before he has the chance to explore the possibilities. You can check out the trailer for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom below:
As it stands right now, there is no Aquaman 3 in development as Warner Bros. certainly awaits how The Lost Kingdom does at the box office this holiday season. The movie was in production amidst Warner Bros seeing massive changes when its parent company merged with Discovery Inc. to form Warner Bros. Discovery, led by new CEO David Zaslav, in early 2022. About a year ago, James Gunn and Peter Safran were named the co-chairmen and CEOs of DC Studios.
Early this year, Safran and Gunn unveiled their new DCU Chapter One, which includes reboots for characters like Superman, Green Lantern and Supergirl, and so far there's no Aquaman to be found. Gunn has named some established characters being carried over to the new universe, including Xolo Maridueña’s Blue Beetle, Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller, and John Cena’s Peacemaker, but Momoa’s Aquaman has yet to be mentioned. The actor has shared that he thinks Aquaman “will be involved” with the universe’s future, but it truly seems up in the air for the time being.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom also stars Patrick Wilson, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Dolph Lundgren, Temuera Morrison, Nicole Kidman, Amber Heard and Randall Park. What’s next for Momoa’s superhero will likely come down to how the upcoming sequel does with audiences when it hits big screens this December 20.
