James Wan Celebrates Aquaman’s Anniversary With New Photos From The Set

Jason Momoa in Aquaman
(Image credit: (Warner Bros))

While this holiday season’s movie buzz belongs to the conclusion of the Skywalker Saga with The Rise of Skywalker, last year James Wan’s Aquaman made a huge splash with DC fans! The 2018 blockbuster brought in monstrous waves of cash for Warner Bros globally: $1.1 billion. Aquaman became the highest-grossing hit for the DCEU and helped restore confidence for the superhero universe.

The Aquaman director has taken to Instagram to celebrate the film’s one-year anniversary with some awesome behind-the-scenes pictures from his personal library. Check them out below:

A photo posted by on

Awesome, right? The photos switch off between taking place on a set and on location on a beach. Jason Momoa strikes some badass poses (as he does) with his trident, as Patrick Wilson’s King Orm stands with his undersea henchman who hunt down Arthur Curry in the big action movie. There are also some pictures of the scene on the submarine where Aquaman and Black Manta’s feud is first born!

In the post, James Wan commented about how fast time flies by. Can you believe Aquaman is one year old already? The director also got fans excited for the coming sequel by saying “who’s ready for the next chapter?” Aquaman 2 already has a release date set for December 16, 2022 with the key cast set to return.

Jason Momoa has described the Aquaman sequel as “way bigger” than the original, which took place across land and sea, introducing multiple undersea kingdoms. The See actor apparently came into Warner Bros. with a “big pitch” all mapped out that impressed the studio. The story for Aquaman 2 is said to be locked, but it probably won’t start rolling cameras until early 2021.

Picking up where Aquaman left off, Yayha Abdul-Mateen’s Black Manta is expected to be the main baddie in the sequel after he fell off the cliff and Randall Park’s Dr. Stephen Shin rescued him. The actor, who recently starred in Watchmen, recently talked about how excited he is to return to the role. In his words:

Black Manta will be back — I feel confident in saying that. I’m excited to step into that world again and cause some more trouble. I really want to add more personality and more character to David Kane and flesh him out in Aquaman 2 and give him more of a journey.

Along with Aquaman 2, Ezra Miller’s Barry Allen has been given his own standalone The Flash film with a new official release date of July 1, 2022. A sequel for Shazam! has been announced for April 1, 2022, as well. It’s three years from now, but 2022 is shaping up to be an awesome year for the DC universe! In the meantime, check out our guide to everything we know about Aquaman 2!

Sarah El-Mahmoud
Staff Writer

Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.