James Wan says The Trench will be more monster horror than superhero film

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

After AQUAMAN quickly became the highest-grossing film in Warner Bros.' DC franchise, it was only natural that a sequel was put into development, but slightly more surprising was the news that an AQUAMAN spin-off was in the works as well. The spin-off will center around the Trench, the terrifying amphibious creatures who were seen attacking Aquaman (Jason Momoa) and Mera (Amber Heard) in AQUAMAN.

While speaking with ComicBook.com, AQUAMAN director James Wan dropped a few small details on THE TRENCH.

We, you know, we're still deep in sort of crafting the script, crafting the story right now so I don't want to get into that too much, but definitely it's one that I really want to lean into the horror of it, so it's going to play more as a monster horror movie then it will as a superhero film, but it's still definitely part of the Aquaman world.

I'm still curious as to just what sort of story THE TRENCH will tell, but I'm definitely down for more adventures in Aquaman's world. Up-and-coming screenwriters Noah Gardner and Aidan Fitzgerald have been tasked with penning the script, and its been said that the spin-off will be budgeted much more modestly than past DC superhero films. There aren't many other details about the spin-off at this point, only that it will be set in the Kingdom of the Trench and will not feature the main cast of AQUAMAN.

As for the AQUAMAN sequel, Warner Bros. have already slated the film for a December 16, 2022 release, and Jason Momoa has said that the story is already locked. "I was really, really, really, passionate, to do the second one because it’s the first time where it’s all on Earth. It’s combining land and sea, kind of like what I’m doing with this [environmental cause]," Momoa said. "There’s no outside aliens destroying Earth, it’s us. And so I was excited to get back in there, and so I’ve been working with our previous writer, and getting in there, and we’ve got a locked story, and we’re getting into it. And I think it’s going to be like in two years or whatever."