Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom has officially begun production, with director James Wan marking the occasion with a social media post from a chilly environment. Not much is know about the sequel--which is currently scheduled for release on December 16, 2022--other than its returning cast: Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry/Aquaman, Amber Heard as Mera, Patrick Wilson as Arthur's Atlantean half-brother Orm AKA Ocean Master, Dolph Lundgren as King Nereus, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Black Manta.

　　Wan did previously tease at DC Fandome last year that the sequel will have a more serious tone. During the panel, Wan said that he's "trying to find new things to do that I didn't get around to doing in the first film," adding that the sequel is "a little bit more serious, a little bit more relevant to the world that we're living in today."

　　Aquaman was one of the biggest money-makers for Warner Bros. and DC when it came out in 2018, earning more than $1.1 billion at the global box office and becoming the highest-grossing movie in that film franchise.

　　View this post on Instagram

　　A post shared by James Wan (@creepypuppet)

　　Besides Aquaman 2, a number of other movies are in various stages of development in the DCEU. Flashpoint director Andy Muschietti has been dropping social media close-up shots from the costume department of the Flash's solo movie, Shazam! Fury of the Gods has revealed the new costumes for DC's mightiest family, and only a few weeks remain until the August release of James Gunn's The Suicide Squad.

　　Ahead of that is the Matt Reeves-directed The Batman in March 2022, followed by Dwayne Johnson's DC debut in the Shazam spin-off Black Adam, which will be out in July 2022. For more, check out our guide to every upcoming DC movie we know about.

　　Darryn Bonthuys on Google+