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Millard, whose life inspired the original film, said the decision to make a sequel came from a desire to reunite the cast and deepen the personal storytelling that resonated with so many viewers.<\/p>\n
\u201cSelfishly, the payoff for me has been so many relationships were made in the first movie, like my friendship with John,\u201d Millard said. \u201cWe feel like we have a bigger family because of filming.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new film revisits the emotional terrain of father-son dynamics that underpinned the first movie. Millard framed the sequel as another intimate exploration of family, this time drawing on his personal experience caring for a son with Type 1 diabetes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s another father son story,\u201d he said. \u201cEspecially with it being about my son and his diabetes\u2026 it\u2019s one of those. It\u2019s been a part of our life since he was two. He\u2019s 23 now, and it\u2019s something that sometimes gets overlooked.\u201d<\/p>\n
Millard said he hopes the film will \u201chave a voice for people with diabetic kids\u201d and validate the cumulative strain of managing a chronic illness. He described the daily toll: \u201cIt\u2019s not cancer, it\u2019s not something I still have my child with me, but it\u2019s a chronic illness, it chips away at you daily. It\u2019s really, really hard.\u201d<\/p>\n
In screenings, Millard said parents have responded with visible emotion when the film reflects their struggles. \u201cThere\u2019d be a handful of people that have diabetic kids and just in tears going, nobody has ever understood when you say, it\u2019s hard, but your kid\u2019s right there with you.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Finley, who portrayed Millard in the first film and returns for the sequel, the project felt like a continuation of bonds formed on set. He recounted initial surprise when producers approached him about returning, recalling early jokes about far-fetched sequel ideas. \u201cWhen Bart approached me, and Andy approached me, I thought of y\u2019all for real, like, what are we talking about here?\u201d Finley said. But after reading the script and story treatment, he was moved. \u201cThey sent me the script and the story idea, and [I was] blown away.\u201d<\/p>\n
Finley said the creative team wanted to preserve the emotional authenticity that defined the first film while daring to expand the story.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve always talked about\u2026 if we\u2019re going to do a sequel, because, of course, we had such a great experience. We said, let\u2019s get the gang back together,\u201d he said. The actor indicated that the sequel\u2019s concept had evolved during development, rejecting early, tongue-in-cheek notions in favor of a narrative grounded in the characters\u2019 relationships and real-life stakes.<\/p>\n
Sammy Dell, who plays Bart\u2019s son in the film, described the production as familial, recalling camaraderie and mutual support among cast and crew.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a family on that set. Everyone is there to support each other,\u201d Dell said. He reflected on the experience as formative early in his acting career: \u201cThis being one of my first movies, it\u2019s like kind of a bar that I always kind of want to reach.\u201d<\/p>\n
The original \u201cI Can Only Imagine\u201d was both a career milestone for MercyMe and a notable entry in a broader surge of faith-oriented cinema. Millard suggested that the success of the first film helped open doors in Hollywood for more religiously themed projects.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that faith films right now are an all time high,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen a movie has any kind of success, Hollywood listens, and there\u2019s a huge fan base out there that has probably felt like they don\u2019t have a voice for a really long time.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that the industry\u2019s approach has shifted since the first film, with studios recognizing that faith-based stories can find wider audiences. \u201cA lot of movie companies kept saying, \u2018We just want to sell to the red states\u2019. They\u2019re saying a little bit more than that now,\u201d Millard said, noting a growing appetite for films that blend spiritual themes with universal human experiences. He expressed hope that continued success would elevate the craft of faith films: \u201cI just hope there\u2019s people come and see it, so that we can see more faith films and just the art get better and better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Throughout the conversation, Millard returned to the idea of balancing sorrow and gratitude, a motif that informed both his music and the films based on his life. \u201cWe always say that, you know, it\u2019s learning to live with grief and gratitude in both hands at the same time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI Can Only Imagine 2,\u201d directed by Brent McCorkle and Andy Erwin and starring John Michael Finley, Milo Ventimiglia, Sophie Skelton, Arielle Kebbel, Sammy Dell, Trace Adkins, Dennis Quaid, releases in theaters February 20 from Kingdom Story Company and Lionsgate Studios.<\/p>\n