Aquaman
Mercy Reef
The creators of Smallville filmed Justin Hartley as a young Aquaman for a new network, but the CW rejected the series and sold its lone episode instead.
Quick facts
- Existence state
- Never Born
- Peak stage
- near release
- Research confidence
- high
- Last verified
What it was
An unmade live-action television series developed for the WB and then considered by the newly formed CW.
The pilot followed Arthur Curry in the Florida Keys as he discovered his Atlantean origins and protected people from supernatural threats.
Existence timeline
The WB orders a pilot from Smallville producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar.
Justin Hartley leads location production in Florida.
The merged network declines to order the project as a series.
Warner Bros. sells the standalone episode through iTunes.
The pilot receives a limited disc release with Smallville sets.
No later outlet continues this cast or production.
Why it ended
The WB–UPN merger changed scheduling priorities, and the CW did not order the completed pilot to series for autumn 2006.
Last confirmed trace
Warner Bros. released the standalone pilot through iTunes and promotional DVD, preserving the episode but not creating the planned series.
What it left behind
Its unusual commercial afterlife made a rejected pilot widely visible and helped Justin Hartley move into a different Smallville role.
How we classified it
The proposed archive unit never reached ordinary public access in the form being documented.
The strongest verified milestone maps to near_release under Arrival Score V1.
Sources & verification
Last reviewed 2026-08-01. Sources are linked so readers can inspect the evidence directly.