Director James Wan has revealed that Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom has officially started filming. Featuring the return of Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry, the DC Comics sequel has been in pre-production under the working title of Necrus, possibly alluding to the appearance of the underwater city of Necrus in the movie. From the set, Wan posted an image of the clapboard with the Necrus name on the front to reveal that the cameras have now begun rolling.

The caption simply reads: "Day One."

James Wan directs Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, returning to the director's chair after helming the highly-successful first installment. David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, who co-wrote the original movie, penned the script for the new sequel. Momoa has also said that he was so excited to make the new movie that he had contributed creatively during the screenwriting process, as he detailed to Drew Barrymore in May.

"After we ended the first one, I went in with my writing partner and we dreamed up the second one," the actor said. "We went in, we pitched the idea...the best thing I can give you is that I love it so much that I participated in the writing of it. And so we did the first treatment, and then James and our original writer David [Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick] finished it off, and all of our hearts are in it."

Along with Jason Momoa returning as the titular superhero, the sequel will also bring back Amber Heard as Mera. Leading up to the production start, Heard had been consistently posting on social media about her training to return to the physical role. Recently, she posted a new image of a note from Wan welcoming her "back to Atlantis," insinuating that she was quarantining on set ahead of the production start.

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II has also confirmed that he'll be back in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom as Black Manta. Though he's been a bit more coy than Heard, he similarly posted a photo of himself going through what appeared to be the Aquaman 2 script with a pen in one hand and a phone in the other. He was clearly gearing up for the start of production as well.

Back in April, it was reported that actor Pilou Asbæk, who's best known for his role as Euron Greyjoy in Game of Thrones, was in talks to play a villain role. Dolph Lundgren said back in February that the sequel was due to start filming this summer and that he "may" be returning for the project. Meanwhile, Patrick Wilson confirmed his own return with an Instagram post in April announcing that he'd started his training to reprise the role of King Orm.

While the reception of the other titles in the DCEU has been mixed with fans and critics, Aquaman was one of the biggest successes for Warner Bros. and DC Films. It pulled in more than $1.14 billion in ticket sales, making it the highest-grossing movie based on a DC Comics character. Given this success, it wasn't long before the sequel was announced.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is scheduled to be released in theaters on Dec. 16, 2022. Wan is likely to post more updates from the set from here on out, so it's worth keeping an eye on his social channels to stay updated on the project. This news comes to us from James Wan on Instagram.