The Meg 2: Release date, trailer, cast & plot

❘ Published: 2023-07-18T15:14:20

Jason Statham on the poster for The Meg 2

Warner Bros.

Here’s everything you need to know about The Meg 2: The Trench from its release date, trailer, cast, and plot.

It’s time to put on your lifevest and get ready to dive in as the sharkiest sequel in Hollywood is coming to a theater near you and its name is The Meg 2.

A direct sequel to its processor The Meg, this action-packed movie is sure to get fans back into their beachwear as they watch their favorite shark fighters go on the ride of their lives.

Here’s everything you need to know about The Meg 2: The Trench from its release date, trailer, cast, and plot.

The Meg 2 release date: When does it come out?

The Meg 2: The Trench will swim into theaters on August 4, 2023.

The Meg 2 was green-lit right after its original film grossed over $530 million at the box office. The first movie was based on the novel Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror, a techno-thriller by Steve Atlen which was published in 1997. So, it’s not too surprising that the sequel is based on Atlen’s follow-up novel The Trench.

Both screenplays were written by Jon Hoeber, Erich Hoeber, and Dean Georgaris, but the films did change directors for the sequel. The Meg was directed by Jon Turteltaub, whose best known for directing The National Treasure movies, but The Meg 2 is directed by Ben Wheatley, who directed 2020’s Rebecca as well as Kill List and Free Fire.

Ben Wheatley may even be directing a third The Meg film, stating “You don’t want to talk about it until Meg 2 is out,” to Total Film, per GamesRadar. “But I hope so. There’s a lot more to explore in that world. It’s very rich.”

Is there a trailer for The Meg 2?

The trailer for The Meg 2 was released on May 8, 2023. Check it out below:

In a truly bonkers move, the trailer begins with a dinosaur ecosystem eating by the beach: the little dinosaur eats a fish, a Tyrannosaurus Rex eats that dinosaur, and then the Meg (or Megalodon) eats the T-Rex.

From there, we can see our group of heroes as they have to face off with not one, not two, but three different Megs. There’s a scene of Jason Statham using a jetski to jump over a shark’s open mouth, a giant squid uses its tentacles to grab hold of a helicopter, and, of course, a lot of people are eaten by the Megs. This movie is chaos in its purest and most fun form.

The Meg 2 cast: Who’s in it?

The Meg 2 cast sees some of its original actors return for round two of their shark fighting adventures with a few new faces by their side. Check out the full list below:

Jason Statham as Jonas Taylor
Wu Jing as unnamed character (so far)
Shuya Sophia Cai as Meiying Zhang
Page Kennedy as DJ
Sergio Peris-Mencheta as unnamed character (so far)
Skyler Samuel as unnamed character (so far)
Sienna Guillory as unnamed character (so far)
Cliff Curtis as James “Mac” Mackreides

Fans of The Meg will probably recognize Statham as the biggest name in the cast. Statham is no stranger to starring in action movies as he’s been in some of the biggest action franchises such as The Transporter, The Expendables, and The Fast and the Furious. While this movie franchise isn’t as high-profile as Statham’s other films, it does have the hallmarks of what he does best as an action star: kick butt and take names.

The other notable cast member in The Meg 2 is Wu Jing, who is a massive movie star in China. He has starred in blockbuster films such as The Wandering Earth, Wolf Warrior, and The Battle at Lake Changjin. However, this is not Jing’s first time acting in an American film as he made his debut in the US in 2008 when he played an assassin in the film The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.

Director Ben Wheatley spoke to GamesRadar about the film’s diverse cast, stating: “The international-ness of it is very interesting. What’s so smart about the first film is that it’s not Rush Hour. It’s not East-meets-West, ‘Oh, we’re all confused about each other’ … It’s just people working together, and being in an everyday adventure, and the people just happen to come from places all over the world. I think that’s good for audiences, and it’s a good message as well.”

The Meg 2 plot: What is it about?

The description of The Meg 2 is as such: “Dive into uncharted waters with Jason Statham and global action icon Wu Jing as they lead a daring research team on an exploratory dive into the deepest depths of the ocean. Their voyage spirals into chaos when a malevolent mining operation threatens their mission and forces them into a high-stakes battle for survival. Pitted against colossal Megs and relentless environmental plunderers, our heroes must outrun, outsmart, and outswim their merciless predators in a pulse-pounding race against time.”

Back in 2021, Wheatley sat down with Den of Geek to discuss what he had planned for The Meg sequel. When asked what will happen in his shark-centric film, Wheatley said, “I don’t think I can say at the moment what’s going on, the ins and outs of it. But guaranteed, there will be a Megalodon — maybe more than one.”

Now that the trailer has been released, fans can see that Wheatley stuck to his word as Statham and his team will be facing off against three Megs along with a giant squid and a whole host of other creatures.

Outside of that, fans can speculate that Statham, Jing, and their team of scientists will be revisiting the Mariana Trench, which is where the first Megalodon originated in the 2018 movie. And it will be up to them to save more beach-goers from being shark and/or squid food while also performing death-defying stunts.

That’s everything we know about The Meg 2: The Trench, but we’ll be sure to update this page as more announcements come out. In the meantime, check out our other TV/movie coverage in the hubs below: