Before James Wan took up the director’s chair for Aquaman, indie director Jeff Nichols was in talks to helm the project. The original pitch would’ve featured a much older King Arthur with one less hand and one less son.
Back in 2014, it was revealed through a number of leaked emails that Jeff Nichols had been in talks with Warner Bros. to direct an Aquaman project for their new DC Universe. At the time Nichols was a prominent indie director with hits like Mud and Take Shelter under his belt. While James Wan would eventually land the job, Nicols revealed his pitch for the film likely wouldn’t have made much money:
“I still have scenes from [‘Aquaman’] in my head that would’ve been good,” Nichols told the Happy Sad Confused podcast. “They would’ve been quite different from the film that was made. It wasn’t ever feasible…I liked the older Aquaman, like when he had a harpoon for a hand. He was a fallen king and his son had died. He was in mourning. Obviously, from this brief pitch, you can see it would’ve sold hundreds of dollars worth of tickets.”
It definitely would have been interesting to see the death of Arthur Curry Jr., one of the most controversial moments in all of comics, adapted in Aquaman‘s freshman outing. However, it seems as though both parties were happy going separate ways, with James Wan’s Aquaman grossing over a billion dollars and Jeff Nichols going on to direct the Oscar-nominated drama Loving.
The future of the DC Universe
James Gunn and Peter Safran told journalists that their vision for the DC Universe includes locked scripts, wiggle room, and a unified storyline across film, television, animation, and video game projects. The two explained that the DC Universe could bring back elements from previous DC regimes, meaning that their eight-to-year plan is not a full reboot.
Shazam! Fury of the Gods, The Flash, and Blue Beetle have all been released following the announcement of the new DC Universe, with Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom still slated to hit theaters in 2023. Will the characters from those movies make appearances in the new DCU? Only Gunn and Safran know.
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