Our first look at Patrick Wilson in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom has been revealed. Currently in production for a planned 2022 release, the upcoming sequel will see the return of many characters from the original Aquaman. This includes Wilson reprising his role as Orm Marius, aka Ocean Master, aka the former king of Atlantis. On Instagram, Wan has just unveiled a new photo of Wilson from the set of the sequel, and you can check it out below.
“I found this guy [Patrick Wilson] stranded on a desert beach, doing his Cast Away impression,” Wan jokes in the caption. It’s certainly easy to see the comparison, given Wilson’s scruffy new look. For the younger Aquaman fans who might not be aware, Cast Away is a 21-year-old movie about Tom Hanks getting stranded on a desert island where he ends up looking a lot like Wilson in Wan’s new photo.
This new image comes fairly quickly after Wan recently showed our first look at the return of Orm’s half-brother, Jason Momoa’s Arthur Curry. Part of the reveal for the titular superhero includes a new stealth suit along with the return of the original Aquaman suit. Wan cited the character’s 80s “blue suit” for inspiration and says that the stealth suit is made with Atlantean tech based on cephalopod’s camouflaging ability. If you missed it, you can take a look below.
Other returning stars from Aquaman set to appear in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom include Amber Heard as Mera, Dolph Lundgren as King Nereus, Yahya Abdul-MateenII as Black Manta, and Temuera Morrison as Arthur’s dad Thomas. There had been rumors in the past of Heard getting dropped from the project, possibly to be replaced with Emilia Clarke, but she has since arrived on set to begin filming. Producer Peter Safran has also dismissed the public backlash surrounding Heard’s involvement.
“I don’t think we’re ever going to react to, honestly, pure fan pressure,” Safran told Deadline. “You gotta do what’s best for the movie. We felt that if it’s James Wan, and Jason Momoa, it should be Amber Heard. That’s really what it was… One is not unaware of what is going on in the Twitter-verse, but that doesn’t mean you have to react to it or take it as gospel or accede to their wishes. You have to do what’s right for the film, and that’s really where we landed on it.”
Momoa also contributed to the sequel’s story in addition to starring in the movie’s lead role. Based on his input, David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick wrote the screenplay with James Wan on board to direct. Safran and Wan are producing the sequel.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is scheduled to be released on Dec. 16, 2022. While there have been many fans saying they will boycott the sequel over Heard’s casting, there remains a lot of buzz surrounding these early sneak peeks, so it will be interesting to see how the movie performs in theaters when it is released late next year. The new sneak peek comes to us from James Wan on Instagram.