Warner Bros. has been on a roll with its comic book movies lately, set both within and outside the main DCEU timeline. But there have been a few speed bumps along the way, like when the Aquaman spinoff The Trench was cancelled by the studio. The main underwater franchise is still moving forward, and Aquaman 2’s James Wan recently explained how his scrapped plans for the DC spinoff could possibly see the light of day.
Filmmaker James Wan had his work cut out for him with the first Aquaman movie, using cutting-edge wirework and visual effects to give the cast a sense of weightlessness. The movie was a massive success when it hit theaters in 2018, with Warner Bros. ordering a sequel and a spinoff based around The Trench. While that project's fallen to the ocean floor, the horror icon spoke to Comic Book about how those ideas might see the light of day, saying:
Listen, I feel like everything I come up with, everything I do, if I come up with something that I don't end up using, that doesn't mean that I cannot be inspired to use that in a different way. That's my problem, is I come up with a lot of ideas and I have so many ideas just percolating, but obviously, I can't use all of them. So I would say of all the different thoughts and ideas I've come up with, I end up using maybe 20-30% of them in my work, and so I do have a drawer full of ideas that could develop into something else.
Well, that’s certainly exciting. The ocean is a scary place, which is why the idea of a movie about Aquaman’s Trench society seemed like such a brilliant idea. But it sounds like James Wan will still be influenced by those concepts, and they might even make their way to the screen in another way. We’ll just have to see if this means in another movie altogether, or within the Aquaman franchise.
James Wan’s comments about the Aquaman spinoff are sure to be exciting for hardcore DC fans out there, who were bummed to see the potential franchise scrapped before it began. The Trench sequence was one of the many unique aspects to Wan’s original DC movie, and combined superhero action with his horror sensibilities. But since the iconic filmmaker is constantly working within the genre, so maybe he’ll craft an underwater sequence in a future project.
Luckily for moviegoers, they’ll be able to return to James Wan’s corner of the DC Extended Universe shortly. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will arrive next spring, after facing a recent delay. Much of the movie’s contents are being kept under wraps, although some details might have been revealed as a result of testimony in Amber Heard and Johnny Depp’s defamation trial. It seems that Heard’s character Mera might be largely kept out of the action this time around, although we’ll have to wait and see if this turns out to be true when it’s released next year.
As previously mentioned, James Wan has continued to stay active within the horror genre, to the delight of fans. He recently produced and directed Malignant, which has the potential to become a cult classic for its over the top action. He’s also producing the upcoming Salem’s Lot movie and The Nun 2.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is currently expected to arrive in theaters on March 17th. In the meantime, check out the 2022 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.
