Is Glen Powell's Ron Howard firefighter movie Backdraft 2? Powell shut that down, then sold it in four words
Glen Powell is making a firefighter movie with the guy who directed Backdraft, and he would like everyone to stop asking about Backdraft.
Glen Powell, Ron Howard, firefighters: you can see how people did the math. In a new Esquire profile, Powell was asked point-blank whether his untitled project with Howard is Backdraft 2. His answer:
"It has no connection to that movie. It just happens to have fire involved."
— Glen Powell, to Esquire
Then he pitched it in four words: "Who hates a firefighter?" He also said he wants to shoot fire the way Top Gun: Maverick shot fighter jets, as practically as possible.
Why everyone assumed it was Backdraft
- The director: Howard made Backdraft in 1991, with Kurt Russell and William Baldwin as feuding firefighter brothers chasing an arsonist. It grossed $152 million worldwide and got three Oscar nominations.
- The producer: In July 2024, Howard's longtime partner Brian Grazer told CNBC that a Backdraft remake was in development, with Powell eyed for the lead.
- The denial, part one: Powell went on a podcast shortly after and said the remake was "not really a thing."
- The actual movie: In June 2025, Amazon MGM preemptively bought an original pitch from Christina Hodson (Bumblebee, Birds of Prey). It's about two estranged childhood friends, now top firefighters, who have to work together through a deadly series of Texas fires. Howard, Grazer, and Jeb Brody produce for Imagine, with Powell and Dan Cohen for Powell's company, Barnstorm.
The title Backdraft 2 is already taken, by a 2019 direct-to-video sequel starring William Baldwin and Donald Sutherland.
So when is it happening?
Nobody has said. There's no title, no cast beyond Powell, and no start date. And both men's calendars are full.
Howard's next movie is Alone at Dawn, a true-story military drama with Adam Driver and Anne Hathaway. Amazon MGM gave it a platform release on December 25, 2027, with a wider expansion in January 2028, which is the path a studio picks for an awards campaign. That matters for Howard, whose last two films had rough releases: Amazon MGM sent Thirteen Lives straight to Prime Video in 2022, and Eden struggled to find a distributor at all.
Powell, meanwhile, has Chad Powers season 2 on Hulu (it premiered September 3, 2026), Judd Apatow's The Comeback King at Universal on February 5, 2027, and J.J. Abrams' The Great Beyond, which Warner Bros. moved to October 1, 2027.
Previously we wrote: Other Mommy release date and cast: Jessica Chastain leads the Bird Box author's story about a closet monster
Howard has admitted that going back to fire scared him:
"I've always been a little reluctant, because it's scary. It's scary and hard."
— Ron Howard, to Collider
