The roads in Hollywood are littered with potential sequels that reached some form of development, only to stall out. Sometimes, they stall out for decades but eventually get revived. Other times, there’s a pitch and a draft, and then nothing comes of it. That seems to be where we are with regards to San Andreas 2, a sequel that was rumored to spring off of the Dwayne Johnson earthquake thriller released by New Line in 2015. As with almost every movie The Rock stars in, the possibility of a franchise swirled in the wake of the movie’s release. But co-star Alexandra Daddario recently threw cold water on the hopes of fans, telling Collider:
It was mentioned to me several years ago when I went in to New Line. I don’t think that the exec that I was speaking to is there anymore. But they had a draft written. As far as I know, it’s not happening. It’s been a long time. I don’t think so. I think it was in development at one point, I should say. But that happens in Hollywood all the time.
There actually are a few good reasons why a return trip to the San Andreas franchise makes sense. First and foremost, the original movie made money. Like, $474 million worldwide. And that’s usually enough for a studio to explore the possibility of a sequel. That’s probably where that idea of a draft came in. Also, The Rock is a franchise carrier. If he wanted to climb back into the role of helicopter rescue pilot Ray Gaines again, New Line and WB would likely bend over backwards to make it happen.
Dwayne Johnson followed up San Andreas with Central Intelligence (co-starring Kevin Hart), The Fate of the Furious, and Baywatch, also with Alexandra Daddario. A nice mix of action and comedy, thereby scratching any itch that a San Andreas 2 would satisfy.
It’s very possible that the meeting Alexandra Daddario took at New Line would be to continue the series but structure it around her character, Blake Gaines. It could have been the Speed model, where Keanu Reeves doesn’t return for Speed 2, but Sandra Bullock finds herself on a similar adventure, carrying on the brand (but, in that case, running it into the ground). Daddario sure has the action chops, as shown in this San Andreas clip:
So, the San Andreas 2 that some fans might have been hoping for appears to have stalled. But the careers of those involved certainly did not. The Rock hits the high seas once again this weekend in Disney’s Jungle Cruise. And Alexandra Daddario is promoting two projects on her resume, the movie Die in a Gunfight, and the HBO Original The White Lotus. Check them all out.
