Gerard Butler’s Last-Minute Exit Reportedly Grounds Plane Sequel

So much for smooth sailing. The follow-up to Gerard Butler and Mike Colter's Plane — the equally bluntly titled Ship — just sank right before launch. And yeah, the reason is exactly the kind of hard left turn you hate to hear two weeks from cameras rolling.

Quick refresher: why Ship existed in the first place

Three years ago, Plane did what mid-budget action thrillers rarely do anymore: it hit. Lean premise, solid execution — a commercial pilot teams up with a prisoner after an emergency landing drops them in hostile territory — and it connected with audiences. Reviews skewed positive, the movie hauled in $74.5 million worldwide on a thrifty $25 million budget, and a sequel was a no-brainer. Title-wise, they kept it simple: Ship.

What happened

According to Colter, everything was set… until it wasn’t. He says the movie collapsed after Butler opted out right before production.

'Last-minute, Gerard Butler decided he did not want to go forward with it and there was not a lot of discussion about it. 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.'

Butler was only meant to pop in for a cameo this time, but as an executive producer through his G-BASE banner, he essentially held the go/no-go button. When he stepped away, the project followed.

The Ship we did not get

This is the part that stings: the sequel was set to center on Colter's character, Louis Gaspare — the former French Foreign Legionnaire who made a memorable exit at the end of Plane. Colter says the movie would have kicked off right where the first one left him.

'What happened to that character, and how'd he get off the island… That was where we were gonna go with it. So, I was excited about it.'

• Gaspare sneaks aboard a cargo ship headed to South Africa.
• He discovers the vessel is moving victims for a human trafficking operation.
• He teams up with the ship's second mate — a late hire who has no idea what the crew is really doing — and a passenger with military experience and a personal score to settle.
• The mission: topple a corrupt captain, protect innocent passengers, and free the captives.

Where it leaves things

With Butler bowing out at the last minute, Ship never left port. It is a shame — a stripped-down maritime rescue with Mike Colter front and center sounded like exactly the kind of rough-and-ready thriller we do not get enough of. For now, Gaspare's next chapter stays on the dock.