James Wan Confirms No Justice League Cameos in Aquaman

Furious 7 director James Wan has confirmed that DC films’ upcoming Aquaman will not be featuring the hero’s super friends from Justice League, saying that his vision for the film’s story is to only focus on Aquaman‘s character.

“I wanted to keep the story to the world of Aquaman and not have to worry about what other characters are doing in their films and how that would affect us. I just thought the simplest way was to keep it clean — keep it simple and let it be an Aquaman story.” Wan said in his interview with Entertainment Weekly. “I told them I understand and respect that it’s part of a bigger universe but at the end of the day I have to tell the story I want to tell, and I want to develop the character as well.”

From Warner Bros. Pictures and director James Wan comes an action-packed adventure that spans the vast, visually breathtaking underwater world of the seven seas. The film, starring Jason Momoa (Justice League, Frontier) in the title role, reveals the origin story of half-human, half-Atlantean Arthur Curry and takes him on the journey of his lifetime — one that will not only force him to face who he really is, but to discover if he is worthy of who he was born to be… a king.

Aquaman also stars Amber Heard (Justice League, Magic Mike XXL) as Mera, a fierce warrior and Aquaman’s ally throughout his journey; Oscar nominee Willem Dafoe (Platoon, Spider-Man 2) as Vulko, council to the Atlantean throne; Patrick Wilson (The Conjuring films, Watchmen) as Orm/Ocean Master, the present King of Atlantis; Dolph Lundgren (The Expendables films) as Nereus, King of the Atlantean tribe Xebel; Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Baywatch, The Get Down) as the vengeful Black Manta; and Oscar winner Nicole Kidman (The Hours, Lion) as Arthur’s mom, Atlanna. Also starring is Ludi Lin (Power Rangers) as Captain Murk, Atlantean Commando, and Temeura Morrison (Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, Green Lantern) as Arthur’s dad, Tom Curry.

Directed by James Wan from a script by Will Beall (Gangster Squad) and David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick (The Conjuring 2), from the story by Geoff Johns, Wan and Beall, the film is being produced by Peter Safran and Rob Cowan, with Zack Snyder, Deborah Snyder, Rob Cowan, Jon Berg, Walter Hamada, and Geoff Johns serving as executive producers. The movie is based on characters from DC’s Aquaman created by Paul Norris and Mort Weisinger. Rupert Gregson-Williams (Wonder Woman) will compose the music.

Aquaman opens on December 21 in theaters everywhere.