Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is an upcoming American superhero film based on the DC character Aquaman. Produced by DC Studios, Atomic Monster, and The Safran Company, and set for distribution by Warner Bros. Pictures, it is the sequel to Aquaman (2018), and the 15th and final installment in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). The film is directed by James Wan from a screenplay by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, based on a story conceived by Wan, Johnson-McGoldrick, Thomas Pa'a Sibbett, and Jason Momoa. It stars Momoa as Arthur Curry / Aquaman alongside Patrick Wilson, Amber Heard, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and Nicole Kidman.
Momoa pitched a story for an Aquaman sequel during production of the first film. Wan did not want to rush a sequel but agreed in January 2019 to oversee development. Johnson-McGoldrick signed on to return as screenwriter a month later, and Wan was confirmed to be returning as director in August 2020. He said the film would expand on Aquaman worldbuilding, and announced the sequel's title in June 2021. Filming began at the end of the month and concluded in January 2022, taking place in the United Kingdom, Hawaii, Los Angeles, and New Jersey, with additional filming in New Zealand.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is scheduled to be released in the United States on December 22, 2023.
Premise
Several years after the events of the first film, Arthur Curry / Aquaman is forced to protect Atlantis and his loved ones from devastation after an ancient power is unleashed by David Kane / Black Manta obtaining the cursed Black Trident. In order to achieve this, he will have to seek help from an unlikely ally, his brother Orm.
Cast
Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry / Aquaman: The half-Atlantean/half-human king of Atlantis who can swim at supersonic speeds and summon and command the aquatic life. Patrick Wilson as Orm Marius: Arthur's Atlantean half-brother and the former king of Atlantis who is imprisoned following his crimes against Atlantis. Amber Heard as Mera: The Queen of Atlantis, wife of Arthur, mother of Arthur Jr and daughter of King Nereus who can control water. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as David Kane / Black Manta: A ruthless pirate and high-seas mercenary who uses an Atlantean armored suit and wields the powerful Black Trident, seeking to kill Arthur as revenge for the death of his father. Director James Wan had planned since the first film to have Kane become the main villain of its sequel, hence why he opted to set up his conflictive relationship with Arthur in the previous film with Kane as a "glorified side character" before bringing him back in an even "much bigger role", involving him coming across something "bigger" to get back at Arthur. Nicole Kidman as Atlanna: Arthur and Orm's mother and the former queen of Atlantis.
Reprising their roles from Aquaman (2018) are Dolph Lundgren as Nereus, the king of Xebel and Mera's father; Randall Park as Dr. Stephen Shin, a marine biologist obsessed with finding Atlantis; and Temuera Morrison as Tom Curry, Arthur's father who works as a lighthouse keeper. Also appearing are Vincent Regan as Atlan, the first king of Atlantis; Jani Zhao as Stingray; Indya Moore as Karshon; and Pilou Asbæk in an undisclosed role.
Production
Development
During the production of Aquaman (2018), star Jason Momoa developed a story pitch for a sequel that he gave to Warner Bros. Pictures Group chairman Toby Emmerich and producer Peter Safran. In October 2018, before the film's release, Momoa said he would be more involved in the development of a potential sequel and expected filming to begin in 2019. Director James Wan said there were several storylines that could spin out from Aquaman, with that film introducing seven underwater kingdoms that had yet to be fully explored. Momoa was paid $15 million for his involvement. Emmerich had enough confidence in box office projections for the film by early December to begin discussing a sequel. By the end of January 2019, when Aquaman was set to become the highest-grossing film based on a single DC Comics character, Warner Bros. was in negotiations with Wan to oversee the development and writing of a sequel with the potential to return as director. Geoff Boucher of Deadline Hollywood noted that Wan had been very protective of sequels to his previous films Insidious (2010) and The Conjuring (2013), and was "deeply invested" in the worldbuilding of Aquaman. Wan had previously compared the world of Aquaman to other fictional worlds such as Middle-earth, the Star Wars galaxy, and the Wizarding World.