Milo Ventimiglia Brings Levity to 'I Can Only Imagine 2,' but Sequel Struggles to Find Its Story
Short intro: Opening Friday, February 20, 2026 (ET), I Can Only Imagine 2 returns to the faith-based world of Bart Millard and MercyMe. The sequel leans on new music and a real-life friendship to power its emotional core, while an uneven script keeps the film from matching the breakthrough success of its predecessor.
Plot, performances and the role of milo ventimiglia
John Michael Finley reprises his role as Bart Millard, now a family man and frontman facing writer’s block and lingering trauma from an abusive childhood. The film weaves three main threads: Bart’s struggle to write a follow-up hit, the challenges of parenting a teen with type 1 diabetes, and the arrival of an opening act whose own story reshapes the tour and the band.
Milo Ventimiglia appears as Tim Timmons, a singer/songwriter who joins MercyMe’s tour and acts as both comic relief and a moral counterweight to Bart’s gloom. Ventimiglia’s portrayal injects warmth and charisma into the film; he plays Timmons as simultaneously effervescent and quietly wounded, capturing a performer who keeps smiling even as he battles illness. That mix of levity and pathos becomes one of the film’s chief assets.
Sophie Skelton steps into the role of Shannon, Bart’s wife, and the supporting cast includes portrayals of family strain and reconciliation that aim for genuine feeling. Flashbacks to Bart’s fraught relationship with his father reappear, this time working through different emotional beats than the first movie. Those sequences provide a throughline, but they no longer deliver the same shock or novelty they did in the original.
Where the sequel falters
Scripted and co-directed by Brent McCorkle with co-direction from Andrew Erwin, the film often feels overburdened. With multiple emotional arcs competing for attention, the narrative struggles to build momentum in any single direction. Bart’s lingering fixation on past abuse—despite an earlier reconciliation—rings thin in places, robbing some scenes of urgency.
Another sticking point is the film’s handling of Bart’s son, Sam, whose type 1 diabetes becomes a central plot engine. The storyline aims to explore parental responsibility and fear, but Sam’s age and behavior at times make it difficult to generate full sympathy for the character. As a result, some dramatic crises read as manufactured rather than earned.
Still, the film does what it sets out to do best: it stitches together real-life music and faith-driven storytelling to create moments designed to move an audience. The performances, led by Ventimiglia’s affable Timmons and Finley’s earnest Millard, anchor scenes that would otherwise drift.
Context and takeaway
Financially and culturally, follow-ups to surprise hits are inevitable, and this sequel is no exception. The movie mines a later MercyMe single as its emotional nucleus, turning a song’s backstory into a triptych of family drama, touring life and personal perseverance. That choice yields memorable scenes, but the film’s ambition to cover so much ground prevents any single theme from fully flourishing.
For viewers seeking sentimental faith-based cinema and a strong showing from milo ventimiglia, the film delivers. For those hoping for a tighter, more surprising narrative that expands on the first movie’s dramatic power, the sequel falls short. In short: performances and music carry most of the weight; the screenplay carries the rest, and it isn’t always up to the task.
Runtime: 1 hour 50 minutes. Rated PG. Opens Friday, February 20, 2026 (ET).
