It’s been five years since Peter Jackson directed a big blockbuster movie. His last was 2014’s The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. But fans could have seen his return to the land of big-budget adaptations in 2018 — if he hadn’t turned it down. Twice.

Jackson revealed in an interview Wednesday with Empire that Warner Bros. offered him a chance to direct — wait for it — Aquaman. The New Zealand filmmaker was approached by former Warner Bros. CEO Kevin Tsujihara to bring Jason Mamoa’s Arthur Curry solo movie to life, more than once.

“He said, ‘Are you a fan of Aquaman?’ I said, ‘No,'” Jackson recalled. “Six months later: ‘Peter, are you a fan of Aquaman?’ I said, ‘No, Kevin, I already told you this.”

Having scratched this itch before with The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies, and 2005’s King Kong, Jackson seems content, for now, to make smaller passion projects, like his 2018 WWI documentary, They Shall Not Grow Old. And besides, comic book movies just aren’t his bag.

“I’m not a superhero guy,” Jackson told Empire. “I read Tintin… Look, films are hard. I only want to make something that I have a deep passion for. I don’t really anticipate making another theatrical film for a year or two.”

So guess that means we can safely rule out Aquaman 2: The Legend of Curly’s Gold as being Jackson’s next project.

The man who did direct the billon-dollar grossing Aquaman, James Wan, has yet to announce if he will return to the director’s chair for the much-anticipated sequel. Here’s hoping he decides soon — Aquaman 2 is slated for a December 16, 2022 release.

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