As audiences continue to mourn the franchise that didn’t happen, I Am Number Four star Teresa Palmer is looking back on the film’s cult following and its scrapped sequel. Based on Pittacus Lore’s novel of the same name, the film revolved around a teenage alien hiding on Earth from another vicious alien species and the immersion of his powers that can fight them. Palmer starred as Number Six, a more capable member of the Lorien species looking to unite the others hiding out on Earth.
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While speaking exclusively with Screen Rant for her Hulu series The Clearing, Teresa Palmer looked back on her time with I Am Number Four. In addition to expressing admiration for the cult following its garnered in the years since, Palmer got candid about her disappointment over the movie’s scrapped sequel, but remains hopeful to make it one day. See what Palmer said below:

Ugh, The Power of Six, that was the next one in the series! You know, this has happened to me a few times in my career where you sign on for three projects and are like, “Oh my gosh, it’s gonna be a trilogy,” and you get so excited and you get really connected with the cast, and it was really disappointing when we found out they were not doing a sequel. So, there’s a bittersweet quality to it for me when I look back, I’m like, “Oh, what a wonderful experience.” I got to do so much stunt work, and work with DJ Caruso, the amazing director, and flip around and have fun, and what a cool character, I got to ride a Ducati motorbike so much. But, unfortunately, it never ended up coming to a second movie, and that still pains me, and I meet people like you who are like, “We loved the movie!” So, I’m disappointed, but look, never say never, I would be down. We can get the rights back, we could do it ourselves, like guerilla style, make The Power of Six, that’d be awesome.

Why The I Am Number Four Sequel Was Scrapped

Hitting theaters in early 2011, I Am Number Four was met with mixed-to-negative reviews from critics, with some admiring the promise it showed of a burgeoning franchise, while largely criticizing it for its familiar plot elements from the larger YA fiction genre. In spite of these reviews, the film ultimately performed fairly well at the box office, grossing just shy of $150 million against its reported $59 million production budget, seemingly setting it up to adapt the sequel novel, The Power of Six.

Related: I Am Number Four Updates: Will A Sequel Happen?

Ultimately, plans for an I Am Number Four sequel were scrapped, with co-writer Marti Noxon indicating that DreamWorks considered its box office numbers to be disappointing. Star Alex Pettyfer echoed a similar sentiment exclusively to Screen Rant in late 2021, indicating that the studio’s wider slate of 2011 were seen as disappointing for them and elected to wipe their future slate clean. In addition to I Am Number Four, that year saw the releases of Cowboys & Aliens, Real Steel and War Horse, all of which struggled at the domestic box office.

Though it may not have happened at the time of its release, now may be a better time for the I Am Number Four sequel to be produced. Studios are keen to find the next YA franchise, with Warner Bros. rebooting Harry Potter and Lionsgate revisiting The Hunger Games with the upcoming prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Additionally, with DreamWorks working on a Real Steel series for Disney+, they themselves may be open to listening to the cult following I Am Number Four has amassed in the past decade.