World War Z sequel lets go of director J.A. Bayona

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Back in November, it was reported that Paramount had won out in a tug-of-war with Universal over director J.A. Bayona: Universal wanted the director of THE ORPHANAGE and THE IMPOSSIBLE to take the helm of their upcoming JURASSIC WORLD sequel, but Paramount had him locked into a holding deal to direct the sequel to WORLD WAR Z for them.

Unfortunately, Bayona won't be making WORLD WAR Z 2, either, as his commitment to guiding his film A MONSTER CALLS through post-production and toward its October 14 release date will prohibit him from moving on to the zombie sequel as quickly as Paramount wants to.

Paramount announced that they had parted ways with Bayona with the following statement: 

Bayona is no longer able to make ‘World War Z 2’ this year, and it is our ambition to do so. He is a wonderful director and we hope to work with him soon."

So the search for someone to take over WORLD WAR Z 2, which has a script written by Steven Knight and Dennis Kelly, begins anew.

Meanwhile, Universal still hasn't announced anyone as the director of the JURASSIC WORLD sequel. I wonder if they might be able to put Bayona in charge of their dinosaurs after all…