It has already been six months since we’ve last heard an update on Warner Bros. Pictures’ The Meg sequel, and now lead star Jason Statham has opened up about the upcoming action sequel, confirming that he is indeed set to reprise his role as Jonas Taylor from the 2018 film. Speaking with Collider, Statham, who is currently in production for his next film with Guy Ritchie, revealed that the studio is planning to start filming the project early next year. The English action star also went on to praise director Ben Wheatley while sharing his excitement of being able to finally work with him.
“We’re gonna start shooting in January if I get my dates right,” Statham said. “Ben Wheatley is the director. I’m very excited to work with him. I’m thrilled to get going. It’s been a while. We’ve been waiting around for the right scripts to come in and the right director to turn up, and we’ve got all those things, and they’re all stacked up now.”
He continued, “[Wheatley’s] great. We have a great shorthand already. We’ve got similar taste. I like his movies. I think he’s a brilliant director. I think we’ve got a good shot at making something good.”
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2018’s The Meg centers around the reemergence of a massive deep-sea creature called the Megalodon, a pre-historic 75-foot-long shark that was previously thought to be extinct. Even though it received mixed reviews from critics, it still became a box office success with a worldwide gross of over $530 million. The first film was directed by National Treasure‘s John Turteltaub from a screenplay by Dean Georgaris and Jon Hoeber & Erich Hoeber.
The first film starred Statham, Li Bingbing, Rain Wilson, Ruby Rose, Winston Chao, Page Kennedy, Jessica McNamee, Robert Taylor, Sophia Cai, Masi Oka, and Cliff Curtis.
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The untitled sequel has been in development since 2018, with most of the cast expected to return. It will reportedly be based on the second novel in Steven Alten’s best-selling series of the same name, The Meg: The Trench. The project will once again be produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Belle Avery, with Catherine Ying, Li Ruigang, E. Bennett Walsh, Gerald Molen and Randy Greenberg set as executive producers.
