Forget Mera: Aquaman 2 Is A Full-On Tango And Cash Bromance Between Arthur And Orm
If the production of "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom" has undergone somewhat of a rocky few years, from significant reshoots to COVID delays to the fallout from the bizarre saga of "The Flash," that's nothing compared to the chaos surrounding the film over at Warner Bros. Discovery. While director James Wan, star Jason Momoa, and the rest of the creative team have been steadily plugging away at the sequel to one of the franchise's most shocking over-performers at the box office, the entire ground upon which the film was meant to stand on has essentially fallen away from beneath its feet. The widely-publicized leadership shakeup put fellow director James Gunn and producer Peter Safran in charge of the whole shebang, which inevitably had ripple effects on a film that now represents a holdover from a previous studio regime.
Yet somehow, some way, "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom" is still treading water on its way towards its December 20, 2023 release date (the studio recently released a teaser for the film, officially kicking off the blockbuster's marketing cycle) ... but fans ought to expect a very different experience compared to the first time around. In a special, in-person trailer reveal attended by /Film's Jenna Busch, Wan explained how the upcoming sequel will diverge from the "Romancing the Stone" influences of the 2018 original. According to the director, we're in for a bigger focus on the dynamic between Momoa's Arthur Curry and his villainous half-brother Orm, played by Patrick Wilson. In fact, movie lovers can look forward to a very different kind of cinematic inspiration — something much more in the vein of "Tango & Cash."
Brothers in arms ... and at each other's throats
It's no secret that superhero movies these days have been struggling mightily to connect with audiences with as much consistency and fervor as they used to pre-pandemic. Warner Bros. in particular can't really afford to keep their streak going of both critical and box office flops, so there's quite a bit riding on the success of "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom." There's no guarantee that the sequel will manage to make lightning strike twice five years later, so it seems like director James Wan isn't taking any chances with his influences:
"And so I described the first film as a romantic action/adventure in the spirit of 'Romancing the Stone,' right? That's what I said for the first one. But 'Romancing the Stone' was a romance between Arthur and Mera. In the second one, the plan was always going to be that Patrick's character was going to switch. I knew that from the get-go in the first film, that's why I didn't want to kill him at the end of the first movie, that he was going to ultimately be somewhat of a pseudo antihero in this one.
Wan goes on to praise the dynamic and chemistry between Momoa and Wilson, to the extent that he describes the sequel as "a bromance movie" that will switch things up from the 2018 film's more traditional romance trappings. Specifically name-dropping the 1989 action touchstone "Tango & Cash," starring Sly Stallone and Kurt Russell as two cops who can barely even stand the sight of one another but are forced to work together, Wan is setting standards pretty high for the still-antagonistic relationship between Aquaman and the newly-freed villain Orm. But with all this emphasis on the bromance, what about Amber Heard's role as Mera?
'I had so many other characters to service'
And now to address the elephant in the room. You'd have to travel wide and far to find anyone unaware of the controversy surrounding "Aquaman" co-star Amber Heard and the defamation lawsuit involving her ex-husband Johnny Depp, which at one point even brought "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom" into the court proceedings. The DC actor previously stated that her role in the sequel had been "pared down" in an attempt to minimize the negative media frenzy surrounding her litigation, which Wan diplomatically addressed in a recent Entertainment Weekly profile. In fact, many online opportunists made false claims that Heard had been recast entirely.
Here, however, Wan maintains his commitment to remaining "respectful" of Mera and her place in Arthur's circle ... even if Heard's role, like many of the supporting cast, has been reduced in favor of the aforementioned bromance:
"Mera obviously is a massive character in the comic book in the Aquaman world. And so we obviously want to be respectful to the character of Mera, as well. That's the bottom line. I want to be respectful to all the characters in this and try and do everyone justice. But always, at the end of the day, I have this story to tell, but then I had so many other characters to service. And I felt like I told the Arthur and Mera story in the first one, that I can also just focus on Arthur and Orm in this one. And so basically, it's a journey where you would be really with those two and then the other characters just pepper their world, if you will."
In short, expect "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom" to be much more of a buddy cop film when it comes to theaters this December.