‘Heat 2’ Update Surfaced Just Before Val Kilmer’s Death

Heat fans celebrating the recent news that the ball is officially rolling on Heat 2 are now mourning the loss of original movie star Val Kilmer.

The late actor starred in the film, about the conflict between an LAPD detective and a career thief, as Chris Shiherlis, Neil McCauley’s (Robert DeNiro) right-hand-man. The movie also starred Al Pacino, Jon Voight, Tom Sizemore, and Ashley Judd.

Nearly three decades after the movie hit theaters in December 1995, director Michael Mann confirmed in July 2024 that he was working on a sequel. He shared in an update just days before Kilmer’s April 1 death at the age of 65 that he officially finished the screenplay for Heat 2.

“I just finished the screenplay and handed in the first draft,” Mann said in a Q&A with Vulture published on March 27, adding when asked who he passed the script to, “In this case it was Warner Brothers. Any more than that, I can’t talk about. But it’s an exciting project.”

The update was a long-time coming. Mann first teased a sequel to his 1995 thriller back in July 2024 when he told the Los Angeles Times that he was working on writing the screenplay for the sequel, which would be based on his novel Heat 2. At the time, the director didn’t share much else, but said he was hoping to begin filming by the end of 2024 or the beginning of 2025. The next update didn’t come until December 2024, when Mann said during a masterclass at the Red Sea Film Festival that the script had “to be finished pretty soon” and that he would be doing so “on the plane ride back to Los Angeles,” Deadline reported.

At this time, further information about the sequel is being kept under wraps, but news that it is officially one step closer to the screen comes amid a somber period for fans. On April 1, Kilmer, star of the original film, passed away of pneumonia. Mann led tributes to the late actor online.

Sharing a throwback photo of the actor on Instagram, Mann wrote, “While working with Val on Heat I always marvelled at the range, the brilliant variability within the powerful current of Val’s possessing and expressing character. After so many years of Val battling disease and maintaining his spirit, this is tremendously sad news.”