Why won’t Willem Dafoe appear in Aquaman 2? James Wan, director of the film, explains why

The trailer for the movie “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” was published a few days ago, in the trailer appears the main cast made up of Jason Momoa (Aquaman), Amber Head (Mera), Nicole Kidman (Atlanna), Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Black Manta) and others, but the absence of actor Willem Dafoe (Nuidis Vulko) was noted.

In that sense, the film’s director James Wan revealed that Willem Dafoe will not participate in the new Aquaman installment because the actor’s schedule was busy and he could not be at the recordings.

“Their agenda didn’t work for us. But what that allowed me to do was expand Atlanna’s role. In this, Atlanna finally becomes Arthur’s advisor. Because Arthur is not from this world, she helps him understand better,” Wan explained to Entertainment Weekly.

As recalled, Dafoe played the role of Nuidis Vulko in 2018, an Atlantean who played the role of teacher and advisor to Arthur Curry (Aquaman) in his training as king of Atlantis and superhero.

“Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” is the second film of the DC superhero, in this new project directed by James Wan that will be released in December 2023, the film will tell the adventures of Arthur and Orm (his half-brother), who join to defeat Black Manta, who threatens to destroy Atlantis.

“The first “Aquaman” was the journey of Arthur and Mera. The second movie was always going to be Arthur and Orm. So, the first one was a romantic action-adventure movie, the second one is a bromance, action-adventure movie,” the director explained.