By Leah MarieAnn Klett, Assistant Editor Tuesday, February 10, 2026

• 'I Can Only Imagine 2' explores faith amid suffering, according to Dennis Quaid and Milo Ventimiglia.
• The sequel addresses themes of redemption and the complexities of parenthood.
• The film releases in theaters on Feb. 20.

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Nine years after the original film turned a chart-topping worship song into a box-office phenomenon, “I Can Only Imagine 2” returns with a more complicated question: What happens after redemption?

The first movie, which grossed over $83 million domestically, traced MercyMe frontman Bart Millard’s reconciliation with his abusive father and the birth of a song that would change his life. The sequel, hitting theaters Feb. 20, begins in the middle of adulthood, when forgiveness has already been offered, success has already arrived, yet old wounds still find a way to speak.

Andy Erwin, who directed the film with Brent McCorkle, told The Christian Post that “I Can Only Imagine 2” is about inheritance: what is carried on from one’s parents, passed to their children, and how faith collides with the messiness in between. It’s also a story about unfinished healing, he stressed. 

Bart, now a successful musician and father of five, finds himself unequipped for parenthood, particularly as his relationship with his own son begins to strain.

“We got to heal so much with Bart and his dad in the first movie,” Erwin said. “But in real life, Bart only had a couple of months with his father before he passed away. He had 22 years with an abusive dad.

“So what happens when that doesn't last, when life stays hard? Bart is like, ‘Nobody trained me how to be a father,’ but he has kids of his own, and has a strained relationship with his son, and he’s like, ‘I think I'm the wrong one. I think I gave my kid the wrong father.’”

Erwin recalled an early test screening where one audience member complained Bart should have figured fatherhood out by now.

Then another man spoke up.

“He raised his hand, he said, Can I be honest? He's like, I feel exactly like that.”

Soon, others joined in.

“And then all of a sudden, there were about 12 other men in the group, like ‘Me too, me too, me too.’ I think we project competence, but underneath, it's like, I don't know what the heck I'm doing.”

The film, based on MercyMe’s hit “Even If,” asks whether inherited pain must become inherited destiny, and whether redemption is something one receives once or something that must be practiced daily.

For Dennis Quaid, who portrays Bart’s father in the franchise and appears in flashbacks, the story reflects the power and accessibility of redemption and grace.

“It’s redemption in an imperfect world,” Quaid said. “It goes back to the prodigal son. The invitation is always there. Redemption is free. The question is whether we take it.”

“All men struggle with their fathers,” Quaid said. “One way or another. You’re either in their shadow or you’re trying not to become them. The journey is learning to examine yourself first — take judgment out of it — and let God handle the rest.”

The film’s most moving moments come through the character of Tim Timmons, played by “This Is Us” star Milo Ventimiglia. The real-life worship leader, who goes on tour with MercyMe in the film, was given five years to live after a cancer diagnosis more than two decades ago, and is still alive today.

In the movie, Timmons marks an X on his wrist each morning, a reminder that waking up is itself a gift.

“They gave me five years to live 25 years ago,” Timmons said. “But I woke up today.”

Today, Timmons still lives with tumors and carries grief, but more importantly, he told CP, he carries gratitude.

“I think pain is the gift of sobriety pain,” he said. “All through the Bible, pain and persecution are actually gifts.”

“Most things that seem to come out in the religious world seem to end up with a perfect little bow at the end. And everything's great. And life just isn't like that,” he reflected, adding that suffering is “the gift of sobriety,” a lens that keeps him grounded in what matters.

“I still have tumors in my liver, wearing out my heart today. They gave me five years to live, 25 years ago, but I got to wake up today. I’ve got to hold this grief. … But God is good, and I'm grateful for another day to hold the tension of these two things. It’s so important, and it's what gets me through.”

Ventimiglia, who steps into Timmons’ story, said the role arrived at a deeply personal moment as he had recently lost his home in the Los Angeles fires. Shortly after, his daughter was born. Portraying Timmons, Ventimiglia said, gave him language for that tension.

“These two diametrically opposed things existed at the same time,” he said. “Grief and gratitude. … It was a gift as an artist. You want to portray people who help audiences feel, who help them relate their own lives through someone else’s story.”

“Ultimately, I gained a friend I’ll have for the rest of my life,” Ventimiglia said of Timmons. “We may have taken different paths, but we’re arriving at the same place.”

“You’re not alone,” Ventimiglia continued, reflecting on what he hopes viewers take away. “No matter what you’re walking through, you’re never alone. Even when you don’t feel it, you’re walking with someone closer than your own breath.”

Woven throughout the film is the hymn “It Is Well With My Soul,” a song Timmons said he still leans on today, many years after his cancer diagnosis.

“Cancer is not well with my soul. It's such a dumb thing. It's not even my story. My story is watching God in and through the fire and saying, ‘God, you woke me up again. I'm just gonna join you today.’”

The sequel, which also stars Sophie Skelton and Arielle Kebbel, also reunites audiences with Bart himself, who now navigates fatherhood alongside lingering doubts about whether he’s equipped for it. Trace Adkins provides moments of levity, returning as MercyMe's manager, Scott Brickell.

Millard pointed to ordinary moments — the births of his five children and his son’s diagnosis with Type 1 diabetes — as places where he learned to see God’s goodness amid hardship.

“The best advice I ever got was: if you worry about whether you’re a good parent, you probably are one,” he said. “I get things wrong all the time. But I never stopped worrying.”

The film’s young standout, Sammy Dell, plays Bart’s son, Sam, an aspiring artist himself who must carry both illness and emotional distance while learning how to stay open.

“Sam holds a lot,” Dell said. “He has diabetes. He has stuff with his dad. His arc is learning not to close off, learning how to be vulnerable.”

For viewers haunted by their own family histories, the singer offered the reminder: “You’re not the sins of your father.”

He recalled once assuming he would die young, just as his father had, only to be told by his doctor that pancreatic cancer wasn’t hereditary.

“I just started sobbing,” Millard said. “We hold onto these lies, that our story is already written. But it’s not. You’re right in the middle of it. There’s still a lot of story left.”

Erwin added that rather than promising escape from pain, “I Can Only Imagine 2” offers a way to handle suffering with grace and the hope that can only come from Jesus. 

“A faithful life doesn’t mean an easy life,” Erwin said. “But God is in the middle of the fire with you.”

News Source : https://www.christianpost.com/news/i-can-only-imagine-2-shows-faith-in-middle-of-suffering-cast.html