Upcoming Aquaman star Jason Momoa, who will be making his debut as the character in next year’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, fielded a few related questions during a panel at the Sundance Film Festival.

While you can listen to the full audio of the panel, here are the relevant bits pertaining to his role as Orin:

On the subject of meeting Zack Snyder regarding the role and having to lie about his involvement:

Well, things are going to be a little different. When I first went in I met with Zack (Snyder). His idea is pretty amazing. When I went in, he told me – my jaw kind of dropped. My jaw doesn’t normally drop. What he has planned for the DC world and definitely for Aquaman is something that, you know – I think I was brought on for a certain reason and they got some really cool plans for him. I’m really excited for everyone to see it.

Last year, when I was on this panel I was like eating chicken breasts and in training when I wasn’t supposed to talk about anything. I wasn’t supposed to say anything until 2016. So I told a bunch of people that they could punch me in the face if I was on it, so I’m going to get hit a couple times. But they finally released it. I was supposed to keep it a secret for 3 years.

When a 78 year old, long-time Aquaman fan asks him about Aquaman’s appearance in the new films:

Well, just going off what you’ve seen so far ma’am, I don’t think he is going to be blonde or white. I can’t really tell you because I haven’t shot it yet. I hate to disappoint. But um, you know, I’m a little different than what those others… I hope you watch it with an open heart.

POSSIBLE SPOILER…

At one point in the panel, the moderator points out that Michael Shannon was seen at Sundance wearing an Aquaman shirt, and directly asks Momoa regarding the rumored involvement of the actor in Batman v Superman. Momoa responded with silence and a dodge, pointing out how important the Aquaman role was to him and his Polynesian roots.

Regardless of rumors, it looks like we’ll have a dark haired/Conan-esque Aquaman, likely in the Peter David mold. I’m into it, but your mileage may vary.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice opens on March 25, 2016. Aquaman is scheduled to release on July 27, 2018.