Plane 2: Why the Gerard Butler Sequel ‘Ship’ Was Canceled
The planned sequel to the 2023 action film Plane, tentatively titled Ship, has been canceled just weeks before the scheduled start of production, according to actor Mike Colter. The cancellation stemmed from a last-minute decision by Gerard Butler, a star of the original film and a producer on the sequel, to withdraw from the project.
Colter, who played Louis Gaspare in Plane, revealed the abrupt halt in development during a recent interview with The Direct. “It just, last-minute, Gerard [Butler] decided he didn’t want to go forward with it, and there wasn’t a lot of discussion about it,” Colter stated. “He just… two weeks out, he pulled out, and we were sort of left trying to figure out what to do. And eventually, that dissolved.”
While Butler was not intended to reprise his leading role in Ship, his position as a producer granted him significant influence over the project’s progression, according to Colter. The sequel’s script was designed to continue the narrative established in Plane, focusing on the aftermath of the original film’s events and the fate of Colter’s character. “The script. Basically, picking up where we left off, what happened to that character, and how’d he get off the island. That was where we were gonna go with it,” Colter explained. “So, I was excited about it.”
Plane concluded with an ambiguous resolution regarding Louis’s survival after he and the protagonist, Brodie, became separated during a chaotic escape. Ship was intended to resolve this storyline and further develop Louis’s character arc. News of the sequel’s development first emerged in 2023, but updates had been scarce in the months leading up to its cancellation, according to reports from GeekTyrant and Film Stories.
As of Friday, February 20, 2026, there are no public indications that plans to revive the Plane sequel are underway. JoBlo reported that Butler’s decision came as a surprise to those involved in the production, leaving the future of the franchise uncertain.