Jason Momoa is gearing up for the second season of SundanceTV’s The Red Road and apparently the show is pretty good, but thanks to Aquaman, it’s impossible to have a chat with the guy without bringing up Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League. Sure enough, EW got the opportunity to catch up with Momoa before The Red Road returns on April 2nd and while a good deal of the interview does pertain to the show, Momoa did talk at length about Aquaman.

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It was a bit of a surprise when that Aquaman poster popped up out of nowhere on Zack Snyder’s Twitter feed last week and it turns out, it caught Momoa a little off guard as well. Here’s what he said about Snyder’s choice to release the image earlier than originally planned:

“That was a shocker for sure. It was supposed to be a surprise in 2016, so it definitely helps [our show]. I’ve been holding that secret for a long time. Zack Snyder called me up and said, ‘I’m posting this picture now.’ He’s just a genius and I love him to death. He sent it over and we’re in the middle of the editing suite for the thing I’m doing right now, and we all freaked out, man. It was so amazing to see it come out.”

Odds are, Aquaman is only getting a cameo in Batman v Superman and Justice League probably won’t begin filming until 2016, so it certainly isn’t a surprise that Momoa hasn’t had the opportunity to film an action scene yet:

“No, we haven’t done too much on the action yet. You know, Justice League is still quite a ways away. But I’m looking forward to it. Henry’s a sweetheart, Ben is a badass, so I’m really looking forward to when we all shoot Justice League.”

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Here’s what Momoa had to say when asked how much screen time he’ll get in Batman v Superman:

“Well, it’s Batman and Superman, it’s not my movie. It’s the first time in history to have them both on the screen together, and I’m just excited to see those two up there.”

Momoa also addressed the idea that there was a nod to Aquaman in Man of Steel:

“Well, you know, I think that’s left for the genius of Snyder to kind of reveal that. There’s definitely a plan in this whole universe that he’s designing, and it’s amazing to be a part of it. I think everything that you see that is building, there’s a purpose behind the whole plan. So I wouldn’t want to take anything away from Zack, because he loves revealing all those things. And… you never know, man.”

From there, Momoa went on to discuss Aquaman’s potential and why Conan the Barbarian didn't really work out:

“The whole mythology of Aquaman is pretty amazing. There’s so many things to tell, and there’s a whole backstory that’s just amazing. There’s a lot of surprises coming. I think, yeah, he’s been cast aside. But, um [laughs] times are going to change now, buddy. Conan was really hard, because you have 15 different types of fans and so many things to respect and honor. To do it right it’s got to be bloody-bloody-bloody-bloody-bloody, and not a lot of people go see that anymore. It’s not the ’80s anymore. It’s a really hard format. We busted ass, but there were a lot of cooks in the kitchen on that one. What’s great about this is Zack, man. We don’t want to just reinvent it, but he’s a got a whole idea of what Aquaman should be and I’m really honored to be playing it. I’m excited for the world to see it.”

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Image via Warner Bros.