I Am Number Four Updates: Will A Sequel Happen? (2024)

The first movie was supposed to kick off a brand-new franchise, but will I Am Number Four 2 ever happen? Following the success of the Twilight movies, studios snapped up other young adult book properties they could turn into movie franchises. I Am Number Four arrived in 2011, adapted from the first book in the Lorien Legacies series by James Frey and Jobie Hughes under the pseudonym Pittacus Lore. The movie follows a monstrous alien race hunting down a group of young aliens hiding on Earth, killing them in a specific order. After killing the first three, Number Four becomes the next target, and he has to fight to protect himself.

If a studio wanted to create I Am Number Four 2, there is plenty of material to draw from. I Am Number Four is the first of seven books in the Lorien Legacies series. While the plan was always to pursue a larger franchise, and the movie performed relatively well at the box office, a combination of other factors that went wrong with I Am Number Four meant sequel plans were quickly put in doubt. So, what happened with the making of The Power Of Six, and is there a chance that fans will ever get to see the story continue in some way or another?

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The Power Of Six Was Put On Hold

Screenwriter Marti Noxon confirmed (via JoBlo) that the plan for I Am Number Four 2 that continued the series was put on the back burner following the negative critical reception of the original movie. I Am Number Four received mostly mediocre reviews, sitting at 33% on Rotten Tomatoes. However, it managed to gross $150 million worldwide, with a production budget of $50 million.

While those box office numbers were solid for young adult movie franchises, they clearly weren't enough to convince the studio The Power Of Six was worth pursuing and I Am Number Four2 was put on indefinite hold. This is a shame since Number Six, played by Teresa Palmer, was regarded as a high point of the first film and the sequel would focus on her character.

Will The Power Of Six Ever Happen?

The possible production or release of I Am Number Four 2 has been the subject of relatively little news in the years since I Am Number Four's release, which is likely bad news for the sequel. In a 2013 interview, D.J. Caruso suggested that DreamWorks was exploring ways to continue the franchise with an I Am Number Four sequel. However, nothing seems to have grown out of those discussions.

It would appear that after several projects didn't perform as well as DreamWorks had hoped, the studio canceled what they had in the works, which included plans for the I Am Number Four sequel. In 2021 when speaking with Screen Rant, Alex Pettyfer provided an update on I Am Number Four 2. Pettyfer stated that a sequel would likely never happen because DreamWorks had moved on.

"I think just as a collective slate, maybe the movies didn't perform as well as they should have. And so the slate was kind of wiped clean for DreamWorks to start again." - Alex Pettyfer

The Demand For I Am Number Four 2 Hasn't Waned

It has been over 10 years since I Am Number Four hit the big screen, and there are still people who want to see a sequel. This is likely because the movie has stood the test of time, especially when the overall world-building is concerned. Outside some successful franchise movies like Joker, it is unusual for a stand-alone film to receive this much fanfare from people wanting more, but I Am Number Four 2 could bring in some nice box office if it ever came out. Of course, there would have to be cast changes, and likely a reboot since the original actors have aged out.

With the popular book series spawning its own sequel series in Lorien Legacies Reborn, there is still a lot of ground to cover, and a lot of fans who want to see it. While I Am Number Four 2 seems unlikely, the story could be rebooted as a new movie or even a TV series at some point in the future. However, any future for the franchise will probably not see the return of either Alex Pettyfer or Teresa Palmer.

Teresa Palmer Wants The Sequel To Happen

There is one person who really wants to see I Am Number Four 2, and that is Teresa Palmer. That is because she plays Number Six, and she knows the sequel was supposed to be The Power of Six, which would put her character in the front of the action. According to Palmer, she had high hopes when she signed onto the series and believed that this could be a huge opportunity for her future. Sadly, it stopped with the one movie, although Palmer held out hope that somehow things could end up resurrected with an anticipated sequel.

"The Power of Six, that was the next one in the series! You know, this has happened to me a few times in my career where you sign on for three projects and are like, "Oh my gosh, it's gonna be a trilogy," and you get so excited, and you get really connected with the cast, and it was really disappointing when we found out they were not doing a sequel."

Palmer joins Alex Pettyfer, who said the same general things when asked about I Am Number Four 2, but it seems the studio wanted to cut its losses with the one movie and the two actors never got their wish for more stories in that world, which grew to not only include a massive series, but also spun off with more stories in the world as well. "That still pains me," Palmer admitted. "I meet people like you who are like, "We loved the movie!" So, I'm disappointed, but look, never say never, I would be down."