Why the prison break shark scene was cut from Aquaman

As reported by Collider, Aquaman writer Will Beall included a prison break scene that Wan decided was too gruesome to include in the final cut of the film. Wan explained to the outlet’s editor in chief Steve Weintraub at an IMAX screening of Aquaman, “He had a really quirky out-there [sequence]… it wasn’t the studio, it was me that said, ‘I don’t know if we can have that in there, that’s a bit weird’ — as much as I loved it. [Beall] had this sequence where Aquaman has been apprehended by King Orm and he’s been thrown into this dungeon. Like this really awful prison deep in Atlantis.”

Seems not too bad so far, right? But that’s where things start to get graphic. Wan continued to explain the scene, saying, “[Aquaman] ends up starting a prison riot, where all the guards are sharks. They were shark-guards, like all shark head… and he kills one of the shark guards and the shark starts bleeding and then that starts a feeding frenzy among all the other shark guards. It just went nuts. We’re talking like clouds of blood billowing everywhere and he uses that to escape. I was like “Holy crap, I don’t know if I can do that.”

While it would have been a very Arthur move to concoct an escape plan of that nature, intent on destroying his captors on his way out, a scene like that would likely have increased the age restriction imposed on the movie by film boards across the world — and with good reason. To be honest, Aquaman didn’t really need the extra violence either. There was plenty of butt-kicking and aggression going on between Arthur and Orm — plus action sequences featuring Mera (Amber Heard), Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), Captain Murk (Ludi Lin), the many creatures of the seven sea kingdoms, and, of course, Orm’s many guards and armies.

Written by: Looper