Aquaman 2: James Wan on why he returned to direct the sequel

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Although James Wan has directed several sequels to his movies before before — The Conjuring 2 & Insidious: Chapter 2 — he doesn't like to make a habit of it, so there was never any guarantee that he would direct the Aquaman sequel. While speaking with IGN, James Wan explained why he typically doesn't like directing sequels and why he decided to return for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.

There's a reason why I don't make three movies in the same series. It'd be lucky to get me to make a sequel. And then after that, I just get bored. I want to do something different.

"I would say the thing that really got me excited to come back to it is finding a story that I think is worthy and if not better than the first movie," Wan added. "And also, for me, really, when I come back to a sequel, whether it was for Insidious 2 or The Conjuring 2, and now Aquaman 2 is I helped shape and create these characters that I eventually fall in love with, and I feel like I'm not done with them yet. So I feel like I owe them one more story from me." As someone who had a hell of a lot of fun with the first film, I can't wait to see what Wan has in store for us with the sequel.

Production on Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is currently underway in London and James Wan credits screenwriter David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick with finding a "really cool story" to bring Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa), Orm (Patrick Wilson), Mera (Amber Heard), and Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) back for another adventure. Wan went on to tease that he felt the first Aquaman only scratched the surface of the various underwater kingdoms, so you can expect the sequel to expand on that world in a big way. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is set to hit theaters on December 16, 2022.