When the pandemic hit in 2020, Steven Soderbergh’s 2011 thriller “Contagion,” penned by Scott Z. Burns, suddenly felt eerily prescient.
In February 2020, it was barely noticed, ranking No. 270 in the Warner Bros. catalog. By March, however, it had surged to become their most-watched title. The film also climbed to the seventh spot on iTunes, while visits to piracy sites skyrocketed—averaging a 5,000% increase daily.
Believe it or not, chatter about a sequel ramped up in recent years, driven in large part by Soderbergh himself. Just last year, he confirmed that he and Burns had cooked up a “terrifying” idea for the follow-up. From all indications, they were genuinely serious about bringing it to life.
In fact, Burns even launched an Audible original series, “What Could Go Wrong?,” exploring whether AI might play a role in shaping the sequel.
It now appears that the sequel is officially off the table. In a recent interview with The Playlist, Soderbergh formally dismisses any plans for a follow-up to Contagion—and honestly, we can all be grateful for that. The original didn’t need a sequel; its impact stands perfectly on its own.
Scott and I kind of kicked some ideas around. [But] it would be tough to go back to that idea for me because that was a really unique circumstance. David Lean talked about not popping out of the same hole twice. I know I’m saying that as somebody who’s been involved with multiple ‘Oceans’ movies and multiple ‘Magic Mike’ movies, but I don’t know how to mitigate that feeling of, like, we’ve done it before.
“Contagion” reunited Soderbergh with his longtime screenwriting partner Burns for a tense medical thriller. The film delved not only into the serious implications of a global pandemic but also the urgent scientific efforts needed to develop a vaccine. Viewed through the lens of 2020, it was undeniably frightening. The fictional virus, MEV-1, originated in Asia and spread easily through touch—but unlike COVID-19, it proved far deadlier, ultimately killing 26 million people worldwide.
Soderbergh has The Christophers hitting theaters this month, yet he hasn’t revealed his next project—despite having released nine films over the past seven years.
The man doesn't stop. James Gunn has confirmed he's already hard at work writing his next film, even as ‘Man of Tomorrow’ makes its way toward theaters next summer.