He denied it before out of respect for Warner Bros., he explains in first interview since standalone pic was confirmed

Oct 21, 2014 07:46 GMT  ·  By

Last week, Warner Bros. confirmed Aquaman would make his first appearance in “Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice” in 2016 and then get his own standalone movie in 2018. With this piece of news out, Jason Momoa is finally free to confirm that he’ll be starring as the famous water man from the DC Comics.    

Of course, fans already knew that because the rumor of his involvement had been making the rounds for several months.

In his first interview since the Warner Bros. announcement, at the Walker Stalker Con in Atlanta, Georgia, the former “Game of Thrones” star explains why he couldn’t be honest with fans before.

Momoa is thrilled to play Aquaman

“I was asked to play it,” he says, as cited by ComicBook.com. “You know, you audition and stuff like that, but the fact is you’ve just got to keep it quiet. You know what I mean, I was just trying to respect Warner Bros. and everyone’s wishes. I’m really, really happy that I don’t have to be quiet anymore, because that’s really hard for me.”

He must be feeling relieved because, at one point, speculation about his involvement in the project was so intense that he literally couldn’t make a single public appearance without finding himself in a position in which he had to dodge or deny Aquaman questions.

That out of the way, he’s looking forward to playing the character. He says he “rode some dolphins before” and comes from a water people (he has Polynesian heritage), and he plans to train with the best to make the most convincing Aquaman possible.

Seeing how this is his chance to really go big, Momoa has every incentive in the world to give it his best. Even fans who disagreed with him being cast in the role at first are starting to warm up to the idea of seeing him on the big screen as Aquaman.

The photo above, by the way, is a fan-made pic of Momoa as Aquaman, courtesy of Rahzzah on DeviantArt.

Zack Snyder is a genius

In the same interview, Momoa goes to great lengths to prevent anyone from asking him about Warners’ plans for his standalone movie, by saying that he knows “as much as you guys know.” At this point, he doesn’t even know the director of the movie.   

“I know the Justice League will come first. That’s really what we’re going to focus on. I’m not sure if it will be [set] prior to Justice League or post. I don’t know too much about it. It will probably be where he came from. It will probably be his whole origin story I would think… So I know we’re going to do Justice League first,” he explains.

He does know Zack Snyder though, the director of “Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice,” in which Aquaman will be making his first appearance.

“It’s cool to be a part of DC’s universe. I’m really excited to be with Warner Bros., and hopefully everyone likes it. And Zack Snyder’s a genius, so I’m really excited to be hanging out with him,” Momoa gushes.

The first “Justice League” movie will also be directed by Snyder, but a director for “Aquaman” hasn’t been announced yet. It is believed Warners is shopping for one already, to lock him or her in a contract in advance.