Why Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom director J.A. Bayona left World War Z 2

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

It's been five years since the super-charged zombie movie WORLD WAR Z came out and raked in over $540 million at the global box office, and they still haven't figured out how to get a sequel into production. It's amusing now, but at one time director J.A. Bayona was attached to direct WORLD WAR Z 2 and had to make a decision: would he remain involved with that project, or would he accept the offer to direct JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM? When it comes to scheduling, it's obvious there would have been no problem at all for him to direct both, because FALLEN KINGDOM has already been released and there's still no sign of WORLD WAR Z 2 happening any time soon.

Speaking with Den of Geek, Bayona discussed his decision to step away from WORLD WAR Z 2, and went into the fact that it wasn't merely a scheduling issue:

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."

That had to be a tough choice to make, working on something great and exciting for a year, then just dropping it.

Since Bayona's departure, star Brad Pitt's frequent collaborator David Fincher has been working on developing the WORLD WAR Z sequel. When asked what his ideas for the film were, Bayona said, 

I would prefer not to tell you, because they're working on it now. I had a conversation with them recently, and they're very excited, so I prefer them to talk about it."

It's good to hear that the current creative team is very excited about what they're planning for WORLD WAR Z 2… but Bayona was very excited about it at one point, too.

Fincher is currently focused on the second season of the Netflix series Mindhunter, while Pitt is starring in ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD for Quentin Tarantino. Bayona's JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM is in theatres now.