Upcoming Jason Momoa Movies To Keep On Your Radar
(Welcome to On Your Radar, a series where we take a look at what's next for the biggest actors and filmmakers, and why you should be excited...or not.)
Jason Momoa has certainly come a long way from his early, clean-shaven days starring in "Baywatch" in the late 1990s. After bringing Ronon Dex to life on "Stargate Atlantis" in the 2000s, Momoa cemented his status as the go-to actor for playing gruff, long-haired, brawny warriors who could kill you with one hand tied behind their back with his portrayals of Khal Drago on "Game of Thrones" and, to a lesser degree, Conan in the "Conan the Barbarian" reboot. He's since transformed Arthur Curry/Aquaman from an easy punchline into one of the coolest superheroes in DC's movie universe, complete with surfer dude charm and tattoos that nod to the actor's Hawaiian ancestry. Momoa will be back to wield Atlan's trident once again in "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom," but he also has some non-comic-book-related projects on the horizon that could merit a look.
With Apple TV+ having already ordered a third season of the Momoa-led sci-fi series "See," the actor's schedule will stay busy for the foreseeable future. Here's every Jason Momoa film to keep an eye out for.
The Last Manhunt
While Momoa does most of his work onscreen, he pulled triple-duty as the co-writer, director, and star of 2014's "Road to Paloma," a dramatic thriller that also served to honor his Native American heritage. Momoa is now co-writing, executive producing, and starring in "The Last Manhunt," a Western that tells "the true story of the last great American manhunt of the old west," based on the oral history of the Chemehuevi tribe from Joshua Tree, California. 2021 has been a landmark year for movies and TV shows that offer a more authentic and nuanced portrayal of modern Indigenous Americans ("Rutherford Falls," "Reservation Dogs," "Wild Indian"), but "The Last Manhunt" is the rare period drama to feature Native American talent in key roles on both sides of the camera.
Christian Camargo ("Days and Nights") is directing "The Last Manhunt" from a story Momoa co-penned with Thomas Pa'a Sibbett, with Zahn McClarnon ("Doctor Sleep"), Lily Gladstone ("First Cow"), Mainei Kinimaka ("See"), and Martin Sensmeier ("Yellowstone") among those rounding out the cast. The film has finished production but has yet to receive a release date.
Slumberland
Remember when Daniel Radcliffe grew horns in Alexandre Aja's aptly titled horror comedy "Horns"? Well, now it's Momoa's turn to sprout some pointy outgrowths for the far more family-friendly "Slumberland," a movie inspired by Winsor McCay's whimsically surreal "Little Nemo in Slumberland" comic strips. It's unusual territory for Momoa, whose films tend to skew adult and bloody, save for when he's playing Aquaman in live-action or LEGO form. That goes double for "Slumberland" director Francis Lawrence, a filmmaker whose work is typically either R-rated ("Constantine," "Red Sparrow") or falls on the more violent side of PG-13 ("I Am Legend," "Catching Fire," "Mockingjay – Part 1 & 2"). Perhaps their take on McCay's comics will harken back to darker, weirder 1980s fantasy adventures in the vein of "Labyrinth" and "Return to Oz"? One can hope so, anyway!
Marlow Barkley ("Single Parents") stars in "Slumberland" as the movie's young hero, who "traverses through dreams and flees nightmares" with the help of "an eccentric outlaw" (Momoa) in the hopes of seeing her late father again. "Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb" writers David Guion and Michael Handelman penned the movie, which will debut on Netflix in 2022.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
Much like Tom Hardy did on "Venom: Let There Be Carnage," Momoa got involved in writing the story for his own superhero sequel, "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom." The DC movie promises to give Yahya Abdul-Mateen II's David Kane/Black Manta a larger role to play (in lieu of the character's no-longer-secret spin-off film being canceled) while introducing some fresh additions to the franchise played by Pilou Asbæk ("Game of Thrones") and Indya Moore ("Pose"). James Wan is also back behind the camera as director and looking to inject some extra horror into Arthur Curry's latest outing, having described the movie as being "very heavily inspired" by Italian helmer Mario Bava's cult 1965 sci-fi horror flick "Planet of the Vampires." That makes the project Wan's second love letter to Italian horror in a row coming after his gonzo Giallo homage "Malignant."
Production is now underway on "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom" ahead of its scheduled theatrical release on December 16, 2022.
Cliffhanger
Sylvester Stallone played a mountain climber who squares off against a merry band of plane-robbing thieves in Renny Harlin's "Cliffhanger," a pulpy survival thriller that hit it big at the box office in 1993. In spite of this, however, plans for a sequel never materialized, and the movie is now being rebooted with a female lead. Ana Lily Amirpour ("A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night") is directing this new take on the high-octane concept, with Momoa — who worked with the Iranian-American filmmaker on her 2016 dystopian thriller "The Bad Batch" — slated to make a key cameo. Rocket Science announced the remake in May 2019, with an eye on starting production in the spring of 2020. Of course, that was before the COVID-19 pandemic threw a wrench in those plans, leaving the fate of the project ... well, insert your cliff-hanging pun of choice here.
Amirpour's third feature film, "Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon," has been touring the film festival circuit this year but has yet to set a firm release date.