According to info dug up by The Daily Beast, Columbia Pictures' Michael de Luca mentioned Jeff Nichols as the director of 2018's Aquaman film. The story doesn't reveal exactly what he said (odd considering this all from emails, right?), so it's hard to gauge just how accurate he may be. Nichols is best known for directing smaller films such as Shotgun Stories, Take Shelter, and Mud, all of which starred Michael Shannon, who played Zod in Man of Steel. So there's already a connection there, not to mention Nichols' upcoming sci-fi film Midnight Special (also with Shannon) is under the Warner Bros. umbrella.
Nichols would be an inspired choice and pretty much the polar opposite of everything we've seen from Zack Snyder in that universe thus far. If this turns out to be true, a big "If" at this point, Nichols would join a well-rounded group being assembled with Michelle MacLaren on Wonder Woman and David Ayer on Suicide Squad.
