Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom star Dolph Lundgren reveals that his role as King Nereus had more scenes alongside Mera before both characters were cut down in post-production.
“I just realized that it was some kind of corporate decision that they try to limit Amber Heard, and then I’m playing with her dad and went along with it,” Lundgren said in an interview with ComicBook while promoting his latest movie, Wanted Man. “I was just disappointed for the moviegoers because I thought the original script was great and the original cut — I saw a little bit of it, it was really good, so I didn’t see any reason to start reshooting and reshaping the story, which obviously led to disappointment in the moviegoers and not just me.”
As the final release in the DC Extended Universe, production on Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom was notorious for multiple reshoots, release date shuffles, and having as many as 20 scenes cut from the movie. Above all controversies surrounding the sequel, however, was the presence of Amber Heard and the public perception around her during her defamation trial with ex-husband Johnny Depp. It was during the trial that Heard revealed how Warner Bros. made her settle for a “very pared-down version” of Mera’s story in the Aquaman sequel.
“I was given a script and then given new versions of the script that had taken away scenes that had action in it,” Heard said. “[The scenes] depicted my character and another character, without giving any spoilers away, two characters fighting with one another. And they basically took a bunch out of my role. They just removed a bunch out.”
Who else saw their role cut from Aquaman 2?
While Heard and Lundgren’s characters saw their presence in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom reduced, one important DCEU superhero saw their part removed entirely. Ben Affleck was originally set to cameo as Batman to replace Michael Keaton‘s version from The Flash following a behind-the-scenes shakeup at DC. Though the cameo was confirmed by star Jason Momoa, director James Wan clarified that the deleted Batman scenes were shot “in case we needed to explain time continuity if we came out first.”
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is now playing in theaters.
