Netflix is positioning Under Paris 2 as a triumphant return to beloved horror territory, with the original cast intact and Piranha 3D director Alexandre Aja bringing fresh vision to the franchise.
Xavier Gens created and directed the original hit that French studios turned down — now he's been pushed to co-writer status while Alexandre Aja takes over directing, a classic Hollywood shuffle that rarely happens without behind-the-scenes tension.
Under Paris earned 102+ million views since its June 2024 release and became Netflix's most popular French film ever. The sequel begins filming in southern France with Bérénice Bejo, Nassim Lyes, Guillaume Gouix, Phillippe Bas, Manon Bresch, and Anne Marivin all returning.
The irony is thick enough to cut: studios that rejected Under Paris are probably kicking themselves while the franchise they could have owned gets handed off to a new director. Netflix knows what it has — now let's see if Aja can deliver without Gens steering the ship.
Move over, Jaws. There's a new shark queen in town, and she's about to make waves again. Production on Under Paris 2 has officially begun filming in the south of France, Variety confirmed Friday, with Netflix doubling down on what became its most successful French-language film in platform history.
The sequel reunites original stars Bérénice Bejo and Nassim Lyes alongside Guillaume Gouix, Phillippe Bas, Manon Bresch, and Anne Marivin — but not everyone from the first film is getting a promotion. Xavier Gens, who wrote and directed the 2024 cult hit that French financiers initially rejected, has been bumped to co-writer status on the sequel. Alexandre Aja, best known for helming Piranha 3D, is now in the director's chair, with Gens staying on as associate producer alongside his writing credits.
The casting shuffle raises eyebrows. When a franchise explodes this big — Under Paris racked up over 102 million viewing hours since its June 2024 release and became Netflix's second most-watched non-English language film ever — original creators often get pushed out or sidelined. Gens will share screenwriting credit with Aja, Gregory Levasseur, Frédéric Garcia, William Laboury, and Fanny Talmone, but losing directorial control is rarely a voluntary demotion in Hollywood.
The plot picks up three years after the first film's catastrophic triathlon bloodbath, when mutated sharks invaded Paris's River Seine, reproduced like crazy, and flooded the entire city during failed neutralization attempts. According to the official logline, Bejo's Sophia and Lyes's Adil reunite for a high-risk mission: tracking Lilith, "the original predator," through shark-infested waters — only to discover "a much more surprising reality" lurking beneath. Aja seems thrilled with the opportunity in his statement: "I love Paris, and I always wanted to make a shark movie, so it was an obvious yes when the opportunity came to take the story even deeper." Deep might be underselling it — critics compared the original favorably to Spielberg's classic, noting Netflix's thriller "swims rather than sinks" in a genre that's been "bloodless for far too long." Now the real test begins: can Aja capture that magic without Gens at the helm?
