Shazam! 2 Filming Update Indicates the Movie Won't Be Delayed

The highly anticipated Shazam! sequel has already been delayed one time by Warner Bros. Pictures, but if a new report is to be believed that won't happen again, at least not in the forseeable future. According to TheIlluminerdi.com the plan right now for the follow-up is for production to begin in the Spring of 2021. This will give the sequel plenty of time to shoot and then be in post-production for its visual effects work ahead of its planned November 4, 2022 release date. The feature film was previously delayed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which could, in theory, delay it further, but as of now the studio intends to shoot it next year. Obviously that could change in the coming months.

Zachary Levi will return as the titular hero in the film along with director David F. Sandberg who will step behind the camera once again. Screenwriter Henry Gayden was previously tapped to return to pen the script. Levi previously spoke about his hopes for the sequel during a virtual appearance at Awesome-Con Online 2020, saying:

"The truth is, I don't know much because they're still working on the script. I know some general stuff and I'm super stoked about all of the general stuff that I've heard. But ultimately what I want, I want the movie to be better than what we gave people the first time, which I think was a really good movie."

It's unclear who else from the first film will reprise their roles in the sequel, but fans already have their hopes up that Henry Cavill's Superman will actually make an appearance this time around. The actor had originally been scheduled to appear in the first film's post-credit scene but a scheduling conflict prevented it from happening.

"In the script, we had a little scene with Superman — but we only had a very narrow window to shoot this scene in the school, so we tried to make it work with Henry Cavill but schedules did not align," Sandberg admitted in the DVD commentary. " So we did this thing with our Shazam stunt double in a Superman suit and we just cut out before you see his head. And it worked really well. I thought it was really funny. At first I was like, 'This is never going to work, this is going to feel cheap,' but cutting out on Freddy's reaction like that, I think is better than what we had originally planned. Originally Superman is supposed to sit down, talk to the kids, Freddy was going to be like 'I have so many questions,' and then we were going to cut out, but this sudden cut to the credits just works so much better."

Reports emerged earlier this summer that that Henry Cavill will return for more movies as Superman and that his presence will be supporting for now, appearing in other characters' films rather than in solo Superman movies.