by Brigman to aid in his investigation. Rick Peters as Agent Brigman: A U.S. agent who has been investigating the apparent resurfacing of people around Mercy Reef who were lost in the Bermuda Triangle, some, as much as 40 years ago. Ving Rhames as McCaffery: A lighthouse keeper and Arthur's mentor. He is also an Atlantean. Amber McDonald as Eva: Arthur's business partner; together they run a dive shop in Tempest Keys. The two are close friends. Adrianne Palicki as Nadia: A siren and the villain of the story. She is the one responsible for the disappearance of Atlanna. Daniella Wolters as Atlanna: Arthur's mother; she was taken from him when he was young, and her disappearance has mystified Arthur ever since. She was the first to call him "Orin". Production Development The concept of Aquaman stemmed from a fifth season episode of Smallville, "Aqua". The episode featured Arthur Curry (Alan Ritchson) coming to Smallville to stop an underwater weapons project being developed by LuthorCorp. "Aqua" became the highest rated episode for Smallville that season, but was never meant to be a backdoor pilot for an Aquaman series. However, as work progressed on "Aqua", the character was recognized to have potential for his own series. Miles Millar and Alfred Gough, the creators of Smallville, also considered a series featuring Lois Lane, but felt more confident about Aquaman. Millar said, "[Aquaman] was the first idea where we really thought we had a franchise where we could see 100 episodes". Alan Ritchson was not considered for the role in the new series because Gough and Millar did not consider it a spin-off from Smallville. Gough said in November 2005 that the series was going to be a different version of the 'Aquaman' legend, but did express the idea of a crossover with Smallville at some point. There was initial speculation that the show's title would not be Aquaman. Tempest Keys and Mercy Reef were rumored to be the working titles for the series. The show would eventually be listed as Aquaman, when it was later released on iTunes. Greg Beeman, who has produced and directed episodes of Smallville, was hired to direct the pilot. Casting The role of Arthur Curry was originally given to Will Toale, after Gough and Millar saw over 400 candidates from England, Australia, Canada and the United States. Before filming began, Toale was replaced with Justin Hartley. A