Contagion: ‘Philosophical’ sequel in the works from director Steven Soderbergh

Director says he wants to explore the themes of the original film in ‘a different context’

Director Steven Soderbergh has revealed he is working on a sequel to his 2011 pandemic thriller, Contagion.

The film, which depicts the outbreak of a deadly and fast-spreading disease, took on a new popularity this year amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Soderbergh recently told Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast that he is now working with the original film’s screenwriter, Scott Z Burns, on a follow-up.

“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,” he said.

“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.”

Burns said earlier this year that he had found it strange that people who watched the film observed how similar it was to the real-life pandemic.

“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,” he said. 

In March, the film’s stars, including Matt Damon and Kate Winslet, appeared in a series of public service videos to help share information and advice about how to behave in the pandemic.

Created in partnership with scientists from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, the videos were directed by Soderbergh and produced by Burns.

Damon’s video emphasised the importance of social distancing.

“Social distancing means staying six feet away from another person,” he said. “It means not gathering in groups and it means staying home or sheltering in place if that’s what government officials are telling you to do.

“People can have Covid-19 and have very mild symptoms or no symptoms at all, so even if you think you’re healthy or they’re healthy, don’t take that chance, it is not worth it.”