‘I Can Only Imagine 2’ Cathartic for Milo Ventimiglia

Actor Milo Ventimiglia found unexpected healing while filming I Can Only Imagine 2, as the story’s themes of loss, gratitude and faith mirrored real-life tragedy.

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For many years the “faith-film” genre has been judged harshly for its saccharine tone and oversimplification of Christian’s lived experience. Filmmaker Andrew Erwin admits he’s been part of the problem but is also contributing to correcting the trend with I Can Only Imagine 2.

Following on from 2018’s breakout hit I Can Only Imagine, the sequel goes back behind-the-scenes of Christian band MercyMe and lead singer Bart Millard’s struggle with his eldest son’s illness and the pressure of chart success.

It asks the question, what happens when your happily ever after breaks?

“So much of what we’ve been sold in cinema and the church is there’s this moment of nirvana,” Andrew told Hope 103.2’s UNDISTRACTED podcast.

“We [think we] get to this moment where our dreams come true and everything stops being hard, but that’s a false hope.

“What we’re longing for is heaven on earth and that’s not what this life is.”

“It gives parents courage knowing that you’re not going to get it perfect” Andrew said.

The key struggle addressed in the Imagine franchise is the one between fathers and sons, and the tension life brings when we have to hold gratitude alongside grief.

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Based on Bart’s upbringing “the first movie was the struggle with my father” and the second “is the struggle as a father and parent”.

“It gives parents courage knowing that you’re not going to get it perfect,” Andrew said.

“It’s OK for it to be messy, just be present.”

According to The Hollywood Reporter Gen Z and Alpha are “desperately desiring to see authentic depictions on the screen” of good parents – particularly good fathers – but who are flawed and working on it.

“I want to start that conversation about mental health between parents and kids because it’s something I think the world needs right now,” Andrew said.

Asked why the first Imagine broke records as an independent film – earning 90million USD at the box office – Andrew thinks it’s due to a new wave of Christian content leaning into the truth of Christian experience.

“There’s an appetite – especially since the first Imagine – for the audience to be willing to look at the fact that Christian’s are three dimensional people as well,” Andrew said.

“We feel and we struggle, and we have flaws.

“[In earlier films] we went straight to the hope we have [in Jesus] and straight to the message.

“It became a bit of a sermon from beginning to end.”

“There’s an appetite – especially since the first Imagine – for the audience to be willing to look at the fact that Christian’s are three dimensional people as well.”

I Can Only Imagine 2 has lots of opportunities for sermonising as it deals with chronic illness, depression and marital unrest but uses the backdrop to demonstrate the potential of gratitude and trust.

Songwriter Tim Timmons – played by Gilmore Girls and This Is Us alumni Milo Ventimiglia – carries the flag for gratefulness, privately dealing with a diagnosis that threatens his tour as MercyMe’s opener.

“[Milo] read the story and what caught his attention was the authenticity of this new character,” Andrew said.

“[Tim] didn’t know if each day would be his last, so he adopts this posture of radical gratitude.”

Tim was inspired by the writer of the iconic hymn It Is Well With My Soul, who 150 years ago tragically lost his home to fire then his wife and children in a marine accident when he was trying to rebuild.

During filming life imitated art for Milo, losing his and his in-laws’ homes in the 2025 California Palisades fire, and he chose to process that on camera.

“We were filming the movie about two months later in Nashville, Tennessee to a crowd of about 3000 people,” Andrew said.

“When Milo [as Tim] told the story of [hymnwriter] Horatio Spafford and how this guy lost his entire home in the fire, it just hit somewhere personal for him.

“The audience felt it, it was palpable.

“Watching it happen was a chills moment that I’ll never forget.”

The cast joke about a third film to cement an Imagine trilogy, but Andrew thinks “this closes the book for me”.

“It’s a fitting end to a worthy story.”

I Can Only Imagine 2 is in cinemas 5 March 2026.

Feature image: Supplied