As ‘Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom‘ is all set to release on December 20, 2023, all the original cast members from the previous film have reprised their roles including Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Nicole Kidman, and Patrick Wilson. The one person who won’t be joining the ensemble is William Dafoe, despite playing a primary character in the 2018 ‘Aquaman’.
Pilou Asbæk’s undisclosed role still remains a mystery, while Indya Moore joins as the villain Karshon. As new actors have made their debut, it is confirmed that William Dafoe will not be reprising his role as Nuidis Vulko. This leaves an opportunity for the characters like Atlanta and Black Mamba to take up the center stage.
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James Wan Reveals Why Willem Dafoe Is Not In ‘Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom’
Despite having a pivotal role in Aquaman, Willem Dafoe was confirmed not to be reprising the role of Nuidis Vulko in the sequel. In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, James Wan said that Dafoe’s schedule simply didn’t work for the film’s production timeline. He wondered if it was potentially due to his commitment to ‘Asteroid City’ and ‘Poor Things’.
James Wan said, “Willem is not in this one, no. Part of the reason was because his schedule did not work 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.” However, the director revealed that William’s absence from the sequel will give him an opportunity to develop Nicole Kidman’s Atlanta.
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Will There Be Aquaman 3?
James Wan revealed that ‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom‘ will set up a possible plot for ‘Aquaman 3‘. The sequel will witness Aquaman lock horns with Black Manta who took the place of Willem Dafoe’s Nuidis Vulko. This movie will mark the end of the DCEU but does not necessarily mean the end of Aquaman’s story.
James Wan revealed to Entertainment Weekly that the movie’s ending teases a future return from Momoa’s hero in ‘Aquaman 3′. He said, “What I can speak to that is the Jason Momoa story as Aquaman definitely has more places to go. […] Where we go at the end of this movie, it does tee up something bigger—or, not bigger, but it does tee up a direction for that story and I don’t want to speak to that just because it’s the end of the movie.”
The director also believes that Aquaman 3 will dig deeper into other characters like Mera, Orm, and Aquaman. Wan also added, “What I like between this one and the first one is, you really do see the growth of Arthur. He starts off as this kind of wanderer, and in the second one he finally has more of a direction of what he wants to do with his life. If and when there is a third one, that’s what it should be; it should be growing these characters because I think we’ve set up certain things in a good place in the second movie that you can definitely draw upon in a third. I don’t have any stories, but growing the characters is the biggest thing that I think the next Aquaman movie should be about.”
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