Warner Bros. has finally released the first trailer for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, offering us a first look at the only DCEU project we were actually looking forward to watching.
After exactly five years, the sequel to James Wan’s extremely successful Aquaman film is finally here. This might be the only franchise on the DCEU roster that everyone is excited about, and the fact that the original film remains the highest-grossing DC film to date proves that the upcoming sequel could potentially be the cinematic universe’s last huzzah before fading into obscurity and giving way to James Gunn’s planned reboot.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will deal with Arthur’s (Jason Momoa) brittle rule over Atlantis and feature his half-brother Orm Marius (Patrick Wilson) as he tries to make amends for his crimes in the original flick. This time around, Black Manta will take centerstage and serve as the sequel’s big bad, wielding the powerful and destructive weapon known as the Black Trident.
Other returning cast members include Amber Heard’s Mera and Nicole Kidman’s Atlanna, though as you can see in the trailer above, Mera is conspicuously absent from most of the footage. In fact, she only briefly appears at the end for half a second, and the trailer quickly cuts away, implying that her role may have been greatly trimmed down. There’s still a lot of controversy and negative press surrounding the actress, after all, and WB would understandably try to avoid that as much as possible.
Aquaman and the Last Kingdom is slated for release in theaters on December 20.