Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom director, James Wan, has confirmed that Willem Dafoe won’t appear in the forthcoming DCEU entry. The latter played Vulko in the first Aquaman (2018) film, an important character who teaches Arthur how to fight and serves as his mentor.
Wan revealed this information in his recent talks with Entertainment Weekly, saying, “Willem is not in this one, no. Part of the reason was because his schedule did not work out for us. But what that allowed me to do was expand on Atlanna’s role. Atlanna, in this one, ultimately becomes Arthur’s advisor. Because Arthur’s not from this world, she helps him better understand the world and the politics of how things work.”
This scenario may give us some mother-son bonding moments between Altanna and Arthur, something which was missed in the first Aquaman film. Apart from this, fans will also witness Arthur forming an uneasy but much-needed alliance with his half-brother Orm, who went against Arthur to become the Ocean Master. They will team up to take on Black Manta, who vows to take revenge on Arthur for his father’s death and everything that has happened to him since the events of Aquaman (2018). Plus, Manta has the Black Trident, making him more powerful than before and becoming able to command an ancient evil.
Wan hailed Aquaman 2 as “a bromance action-adventure movie”, unlike the first one, which focused heavily on Arthur’s origins and his love story with Mera.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will hit the theatres on December 20. Helmed by James Wan, the film stars Jason Momoa, Patrick Wilson, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Amber Heard, Randall Park, Dolph Lundgren, Temuera Morrison, and Nicole Kidman. Stay tuned for more updates.