Peter Jackson twice turned down the chance to direct Aquaman

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

For whatever reason, I wasn't able to catch AQUAMAN in theaters, but I finally got to check out the film when it was released on home-media, and holy hell, what a wild ride. Colourful and over-the-top, I couldn't imagine that anyone other than James Wan at the helm, but at one point, Warner Bros. was courting Peter Jackson (THE LORD OF THE RINGS) to direct.

While speaking with Empire, Jackson revealed that former Warner Bros. CEO Kevin Tsujihara offered him the chance to direct AQUAMAN not once, but twice. "He said, 'Are you a fan of Aquaman?' I said, ‘No.’ Six months later: ‘Peter, are you a fan of Aquaman?’ I said, 'No, Kevin, I already told you this'," Jackson explained. "I’m not a superhero guy. I read Tintin… Look, films are hard. I only want to make something that I have a deep passion for." I'd imagine that Jackson's take on the world of Atlantis might have been similarly jam-packed to what we got from James Wan, but I don't think I'd be willing to trade. For now, Jackson is remaining in the documentary world as he'll be following up his World War I documentary THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD with another which will focus on The Beatles during the making of Let it Be which promises to be the "the ultimate ‘fly on the wall’ experience." The director added that he doesn't anticipate making another theatrical film for a year or two.

As for AQUAMAN, Warner Bros. already has a sequel in development and star Jason Momoa recently revealed that they have a "locked" story for the follow-up.

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]. 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. The beard will be back by then.

AQUAMAN 2 is slated for a December 16, 2022 release.