If you pushed play on Bird Box Barcelona over on Netflix with hopes that Oscar-winner Sandra Bullock would grace your screen in a surprise appearance, you’ll be gravely disappointed. No, the actress who starred in 2018’s original Bird Box film is not named, seen or heard of in the spinoff film, but there’s a solid reason why.
Bird Box Barcelona tells a parallel story of a dystopian world where a mysterious creature has turned the world into a place where people must blindfold themselves outside otherwise they’ll be coerced into suicide, with the latest movie taking place in Spain and following a man named Sebastián, rather than the original being set in Northern California and being about Bullock’s Malorie Hayes. Co-directors David and Álex Pastor spoke to ComicBook about the decision not to connect the two Bird Box movies. In David Pastor’s words:
No, I don't think that was ever discussed. I mean, the beauty about doing this sort of expansion of the franchise was that we had absolute freedom to just do whatever we wanted. We were not tied to the original movie beyond respecting the rules of the world and making sure that the movie was consistent with what happened in the first movie. But beyond that, we really had the freedom to come up with an original story that could stand on its own two feet, and that was one of the things that actually, as directors, attracted us to the project, this idea that you don't even have to have watched the original Bird Box to enjoy this movie, to be honest. I think it helps. I think that if you have watched the original probably then you get a fuller picture, and it makes the whole thing, maybe, more enjoyable, but it's also a standalone movie on its own.
As Pastor shared, the filmmakers never even thought about including Sandra Bullock in Bird Box Barcelona because it’s a whole other movie that is not meant to be connected to the 2018 movie. Storywise, it would definitely have been a stretch too for Malorie to find herself in Spain, and randomly taking the plotline to NorCal would have likely felt out of place. If Bird Box Barcelona was a straight sequel to Bird Box, perhaps that discussion would have been made, but in terms of the Spanish-language film, it’s almost completely its own thing.
But, of course, Bird Box Barcelona does get to follow in the footsteps of Bird Box’s success, which we imagine was very much thanks to Sandra Bullock’s star power in many regards. The 2018 movie earned major streaming milestones when it came out, and it remains one of the most watched debuts for an original Netflix movie. It also inspired the viral Bird Box challenge back then.
Plus, Sandra Bullock has reportedly been taking a break from acting after feeling “burnt out” from the industry. The actress’ last movie was The Lost City in 2022, though she also cameoed in Bullet Train for Brad Pitt in exchange for his role in the rom-com. The actress currently has no known upcoming projects.
Both Bird Box and Bird Box Barcelona are now streaming with a Netflix subscription now. Once you’ve seen how things shake out in the spinoff, check out our Bird Box Barcelona ending explained feature, where we break down everything that went down at the end of the sci-fi horror movie.
