Few films have experienced a development process quite as rocky as World War Z 2. The follow-up to the troubled 2013 zombie thriller has experienced a tumultuous road to the silver screen, going through various iterations in the years since it was announced. One version of the film was, at one point, going to be helmed by A Monster Calls director J.A. Bayona, but the filmmaker stepped down two years later when he realized that he wasn't right for the global zombie apocalypse sequel. During a recent interview about his work on Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Bayona explained:
We were working on that project for around a year, and we had a great idea. We were very excited. We designed great set pieces, and we were very excited with the direction we were taking with the film, but somehow, we never found a way to connect it all together. There was a moment where we were about to start production, and I wasn't ready. I told them and I said, 'Listen, I'm not the right guy for this. There's probably another guy who's able to take care of this in a way that the movie will not get affected,' so I decided to step out of the project.
So it doesn't necessarily sound like J. A. Bayona lost faith in World War Z 2 or departed because of creative differences. Instead, his remarks to Den of Geek make it seem like he took a look around and decided that he just wasn't the right filmmaker to execute that particular vision. That's not much to work with, but it at least tells us why Bayona decided not to work on the movie.
Of course, World War Z 2's development has become one of those stories that we have checked in with periodically over the course of the last few years. The most recent incarnation of the project will reportedly bring Brad Pitt back as Gerry Lane, with Fight Club director David Fincher stepping in behind the camera. However, Brad Pitt's commitments to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood will keep him busy for the foreseeable future, and David Fincher's Mindhunter is also gearing up for its second season, which means the odds of seeing World War Z 2 anytime soon seem reasonably slim. This has led to a debate over whether or not the film is even worth pursuing anymore, which is apparently something that even J.A. Bayona had to grapple with years ago.
J.A. Bayona's Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is now in theaters, so make sure to check out CinemaBlend's review of the film and our comprehensive To 3D guide to figure out the right ticket choice! As for World War Z 2, we will continue to bring you more updates related to the film as they are made available to us!
