​Contagion Director Working On 'Philosophical Sequel' After Coronavirus Pandemic

The director behind pandemic thriller Contagion has revealed he's now working on a 'philosophical' sequel to the movie, saying the new film will be set in a 'different context'.

With an all-star ensemble cast featuring the likes of Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Bryan Cranston, Jennifer Ehle and Sanaa Lathan, the 2011 flick found a renewed relevance this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The plot followed the rapid spread of a fictional deadly virus, which was transmitted via respiratory droplets... Sound familiar?

After it landed on Netflix in April, it wasn't long before everyone had tuned in to watch it - laughing and crying at just how relatable the plot felt.

Warner Bros

Now its director, Steven Soderbergh, has said he's working on a follow-up, explaining round two is currently in development.

Speaking on Josh Horowitz's Happy Sad Confused podcast, Soderbergh said: "I've got a project in development that Scott Burns is working with me on, that's a kind of philosophical sequel to Contagion, but in a different context.

"You'll kind of look at the two of them as kind of paired, but very different hair colours. So, Scott and I had been talking about, 'So, what's the next iteration of a Contagion-type story?'

"We have been working on that; we should probably hot-foot it a little bit."

Warner Bros

For Contagion, Soderbergh and writer Scott Burns had been inspired by epidemics such as the 2002-2004 SARS outbreak and the 2009 swine flu pandemic.

Burns consulted with the World Health Organization and other medical experts for the script - which may help explain why it appeared to mimic this year's events, as those he spoke to seemed to know something like the current pandemic would happen eventually.

Speaking to Slate earlier this year, Burns said: "It has been very strange to me, whether on social media or in conversations with friends, that people will say to me, 'This is uncanny how similar it is.'

"And I don't find it to be that surprising, because the scientists I spoke to, and there were a lot of them, all said that this was a matter of when, not if."

Topics: Entertainment, TV and Film

Jess Hardiman

Jess is a journalist at LADbible who graduated from Manchester University with a degree in Film Studies, English Language and Linguistics - indecisiveness at its finest, right there. She also works for FOODbible and its sister page Seitanists, which are both a safe haven for her to channel a love for homemade pasta, fennel and everything else in between. You can contact Jess at [email protected].

@Jess_Hardiman