It shouldn’t come as any surprise, but it has now been confirmed that Willem Dafoe will reprise his role as Nuidis Vulko in James Wan’s Aquaman. Dafoe will make his introduction as Aquaman’s royal science advisor next year in Zack Snyder’s Justice League.
The news was confirmed by Dafoe himself in an interview with The Guardian. Speaking about the differences between working on big budget studio films and smaller independent projects, his work on Justice League and the future DC Extended Universe came into conversation.
“Justice League is very particular because it’s an ensemble movie and my character is being introduced here in order to be a principal role in Aquaman,” said Dafoe. “These films are a different experience. They have different responsibilities, different resources and different intentions. It’s nice to go between those worlds if you can. They serve different impulses.”
His role as Norman Osborn/Green Goblin was also brought up in relation to Justice League and Aquaman. Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man was one of the first modern superhero films, one which many argue laid the groundwork for the superhero film genre.
Of Spider-Man, Dafoe said “that was interesting because, as big as that film was, Sam Raimi didn’t have a formula. And I think with Justice League I think they’re trying to play around with the formula. Zack Snyder certainly has a heavy stamp on it. But Spider-Man was a very personal film to Sam. He really believed in the story. It was dear to him. It was fun to see a big studio film like that be so personal. I mean, nothing’s perfect, but it’s a good film.”
Justice League is set to be released November 17, 2017 and Aquaman July 21, 2018.
Originally published November 18, 2016. Updated April 16, 2018.
