Jason Momoa Defends His Son After ‘Dune 3’ Casting Controversy: “He’s Holding Sh—t Down With Denis Villeneuve”

It took Jason Momoa several years and lots of minor roles to get a breakthrough role of Khal Drogo in HBO’s Game of Thrones, but things seemingly were way easier for the actor’s 16-year-old son Nakoa-Wolf.

The news broke several weeks ago when the latter was confirmed to be joining the leading cast of Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming Dune: Part Three alongside Silo’s young actress Ida Brooke.

The two are currently set to portray Leto II and Ghanima, the twin kids of Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides and Zendaya’s Chani.

Many quickly took this way more seriously, lamenting about nepotism going stronger, and now nothing holds Momoa’s response back.

Jason Momoa Slams Fans For Thinking He Backed Nakoa-Wolf’s Role in ‘Dune: Part Three’

Even though the actor’s case is far from being the first one in the world fandom’s rage about nepotism, Momoa might have hoped for a better reaction to the news of his son’s movie debut.

While talking about the matter at the premiere of his new movie Chief of War, Momoa went to Nakoa-Wolf’s defense, suggesting that he had no part in the former’s casting for Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming epic.

“A rude awakening is what he’s in for. He’s into the workforce for the first time. It’s going to be good. He did it on his own. I don’t want to help him, and he’s done it all on his own, and good for him”, Momoa revealed in an interview with Extra, adding that he’s proud to see his son doing much bolder things than he would do at the same age.

“There’s no way I could sit in a room with Denis Villeneuve and hold my own. I was on ‘Baywatch’ at 19. He’s 16 and holding s—it down with Denis Villeneuve”, the actor stated.

Fans Slam Jason Momoa Back For “Nepo Mindset”

Again, it’s not the first time an actor does their best to convince everyone that their children went on to begin their careers with no backup help, so Jason Momoa’s words were taken with a huge grain of salt — if they were taken seriously at all.

Apart from seeing an obvious connection between the actor and his son’s major debut role, some fans also remembered that Momoa had played a part in Villeneuve’s Dune, making it all the more suspicious since the actor and the director might have ended up good friends after collaborating back in 2021.

“If you need to say that then it's definitely not by his own merit. Plus it's literally his FIRST movie. His debut movie is DUNE 3”, Redditor battleshipclamato commented in a thread.

“Its so much better if they just own up to it and admit that yes even if the parent didn’t directly cast them they still have advantages the average actor their age didn’t get or have access to”, Rascal_Rogue agreed.

“Ah, the "I had to work twice as hard" nepo mindset”, HelloPeopleOfEarth complained.

“Did he attend an open casting call with a fake last name or something lmao?” sulfater wondered.