No matter what you thought about the first Aquaman movie from 2018, you probably cackled hard at the brief appearance of an octopus playing the drums during the Ring of Fire duel between Arthur and Orm. Well, it appears that director James Wan and the writers looked at all the memes and decided he deserved a bigger role in the upcoming sequel.

During the CCXP23 panel (via @colliderfrosty) for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, Jason Momoa was the first person to talk about Topo the Octopus (yes, he’s actually a character from the comic books), saying he’s “a wonderful creature” who “can play a lot of instruments” and “a wonderful person to have around at all times.”

If nothing else, he definitely sounds different from the recent New 52-era comic book iteration of the character and like a straight adaptation of the first-ever Topo - a gifted octopus who babysits Arthur and Mera’s son and excels at playing musical instruments.

James Wan added the following: “We saw a glimpse of him in the first movie when he was playing the drums and everyone loved it, and we just thought it would be a fun relationship… [Aquaman] has somewhat of an antagonistic relationship with this octopus and they kind of have a good fun time together.”

Looking at the trailer and previews for the movie released so far, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom definitely seems to be playing the comedy and wackier elements up, so we’re not surprised to see an incredibly ‘deep cut’ character getting more screen time even if the story as a whole focuses on Arthur, Orm, and Black Manta.

As a reminder: Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will wrap the troubled DCEU continuity up before James Gunn relaunches the interconnected live-action DC universe in 2025 with Superman Legacy. However, some actors might survive the transition, and Jason Momoa could be going from Aquaman to Lobo if the rumors pan out.

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