It was earlier reported that the highly-anticipatedAquaman moviestarts filming this week. Now, director James Wan has shared the first set photo as production gets underway today! Unfortunately the photo doesn’t offer our first look at Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, or any of the other stars in costume. But the filmmaker does tease the first set he’s filming on, along with the first day’s slate. While the director didn’t offer any specifics about this first scene, it appears to be set on a ship or a submarine.
The director posted the photo on Twitter, where he also revealed the film’s working title is #Ahab while stating that, “Months of intensive prep have led to this.” Before yesterday’s report, there was news that filming onAquamanwill begin this summer, although a specific shoot date was not announced at that time. There were also later reports claiming the production is eyeing afall shootin Italy. Production is reportedly starting in September in Erice, on the island of Sicily off the coast of Italy, including some scenes at the Castle of Venus.
While we don’t have an official synopsis quite yet, the report about the Sicily shoot claimed that the story follows the “exiled king of the lost civilization of Atlantis, grew by dolphins and then adopted by a lighthouse keeper.” There have been reports that said lighthouse keeper, a.k.a Tom Curry, will be played byTemuera Morrison, who is perhaps best known for playing Jango Fett in theStar WarsprequelAttack of the Clones. While his casting was never confirmed, that report came just after Nicole Kidman signed on to play Aquaman’s mother, Atlanna, with the cast being rounded out by Willem Dafoe as Nuidis Vulko, Patrick Wilson as Orm the Ocean Master, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as the villain Black Manta and the most recent casting addition, Dolph Lundgren as King Nerus.
While it remains to be seen how many more characters are still left to be cast, as production gets started, director James Wan recently confirmed that one character from the DC Comics most definitely won’t surface,Aqualad. The director took to social media in February to address a fan’s question about whether or not Aqualad would be introduced in the movie, with the filmmaker joking that he wants to establish “Batman” in the universe before bringing “Robin” into the fold, comparing Aquaman and Aqualad to those iconic DC characters. Still, ifAquamanis a success, there’s certainly a possibility that Aqualad could be established in future sequels.
James Wan directsAquamanfrom a screenplay by Will Beall, based on a story created by the director and DC Films president Geoff Johns. Warner Bros. had initially setAquamanfor release on June 25, 2025, but the studio has pushed it back twice now, originally to June 07, 2025 and now to July 18, 2025. In its original date, it would have gone up against Paramount’sMission: Impossible 6, and it would have faced Sony’sVenomspin-off if it had stayed put in its August 24, 2025 slot. As of now, this superhero adventure, which Jason Momoa recently described as anAquaman coming of age story, has the July 25, 2025 date to itself, after James Cameron’sAvatar 2was pushed into 2019. Take a look at the first set photo fromAquamanbelow as production gets under way.
