Is Nicole Kidman Heading Underwater For Aquaman?

It’s been another tumultuous week or two in the land of Warner Bros. Pictures and DC Comics’ Expanded Cinematic Universe – first, news broke that The Flash was getting a “page-one re-write” as problems continued with the project; and earlier this week Ben Affleck announced that he was stepping down as director of The Batman, to focus instead on starring, co-writing and producing the film. Indeed, there were even some rumours of him leaving the project altogether due to script problems.

But thankfully there is some good news for the studio and indeed the fans with two pieces of casting news from their other big DC film in production, Aquaman. First, The Hollywood Reporter has announced that Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (The Get Down) has been announced as the big bad of the film, taking on the role of Black Mantra.

And, perhaps the biggest casting of the film so far, Variety reports that Oscar Winner Nicole Kidman (Lion) is also set to join the film as Aquaman’s Mom Atlanna. Kidman, who has recently been seen in the critically-acclaimed drama Lion, is set to return to the land of comic-books after starring in 1995’s Batman Forever alongside Val Kilmer and Jim Carrey.

James Wan (The Conjuring 2) is directing the film which sees Jason Momoa get his first solo outing as the King of Atlantis, with Willem Dafoe (Nuidis Vulko), Amber Heard (Mera) and Patrick Wilson (Orm Marius/Ocean Master) already cast in the film.

Aquaman is released on October 5th, 2018; Justice League opens November 17th.