Despite Netflix’s official silence, casting calls and industry reports suggest the highly anticipated sequel to the smash-hit French shark thriller is gearing up to film imminently under a new director.
Picture Credit: Netflix
Shark movieUnder Paris, which became one of the most-viewed titles of 2024 and the second most popular non-English language film on the platform, is officially getting a sequel and it’s now in production.
Ever since its launch in France, Netflix has barely franchised its original movies with the notable exceptions of the Lost Bullet trilogy starring Alban Lenoir. This will soon change, as significant progress has been reported on sequels to two of the recent French productions. A new chapter of Family Pack, an anthology sequel based on the same social deduction board game, has just been confirmed and is gearing up for production soon.
But the bigger—and arguably more anticipated—movie is a sequel to Under Paris, which posted huge viewership numbers in the summer of 2024 by garnering more than 102 million views since its release. According to Variety, its phenomenal success was “all the more surprising given it was initially turned down by a number of French studios and financiers”.
Following widespread reporting and rumors earlier this year, Netflix has officially broken its silence. As Variety confirms, “After hooking viewers with French shark movie ‘Under Paris,’ Netflix is finally getting ready for another bite of the cherry as ‘Under Paris 2’ has gone into production in the south of France”.
Picture Credit: Netflix
As previously rumored, Piranha 3D helmer Alexandre Aja is officially taking the reigns from Xavier Gens. Gens, who wrote and directed the first film, stays on as a co-writer and associate producer. Addressing his involvement, Aja stated: “I love Paris, and I always wanted to make a shark movie, so it was an obvious yes when the opportunity came to take the story even deeper”.
The official logline reveals a massive time jump and escalating stakes for the new installment, which is set three years after the events of the first film “when a triathlon in the French capital turned into a bloodbath after a bunch of mutated sharks not only set up camp in the River Seine but started reproducing”. Attempts to neutralize the threat caused a chain reaction that flooded the entire city.
“Three years after the Paris triathlon disaster, the center of the Capital is submerged. Sophia (Bejo) and Adil (Lyes) reunite for a high-risk mission: to track Lilith, the original predator, in the shark-infested Seine. There, they will discover that the deadly wildlife hides a much more surprising reality…”
Original cast members Bérénice Bejo and Nassim Lyes return alongside Guillaume Gouix, Phillippe Bas, Manon Bresch and Anne Marivin. The screenplay is a collaborative effort written by Alexandre Aja, Gregory Levasseur, Frédéric Garcia, William Laboury, Xavier Gens, and Fanny Talmone. Aja and Levasseur are credited with the adaptation, while Vincent Roget is producing.
We will continue to provide updates right here as production continues and Netflix drops an official release window, which Netflix France suggests will be sometime in 2027 with their poster.
Are you excited about the official confirmation of the Under Paris sequel? Let us know in the comments below!
