Atlantis: The Lost Empire director Kirk Wise revealed abandoned plans for a sequel to the 2001 animated Disney movie.

Wise stated that there were initially more ambitious plans for an Atlantis: The Lost Empire follow-up than the direct-to-video sequel, Atlantis: Milo's Return, that audiences eventually got. "[Story supervisor] John Sanford, Gary and I actually concocted an idea for a sequel to Atlantis. It had no relation to the Atlantis TV series that was being developed at Disney Television Animation. This was a feature-length, full-on, full-blown sequel to Atlantis," he told Collider.

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While Wise did not remember the title of the follow-up, he did discuss the film's antagonist. "We were going to have a new villain in the story. The villain was going to be wearing big, scary, wool, bulky, World War I-style clothing with a frightening gasmask to obscure it’s face; a little Darth Vader-esque. And this villain was going to try and retake Atlantis and finish the job that Rourke was unable to accomplish. And the big twist in the climax of the movie is that the villain is unmasked and it turns out to be Helga Sinclair. Plot twist!"

Helga Sinclair served as a secondary villain in Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Though it's implied she perishes in Lost Empire by way of falling debris, these plans for an Atlantis follow-up would have cemented that the character actually survived.

Directed by Wise and Gary Trousdale, Atlantis: The Lost Empire was released to theaters in June 2001. Concerning a group of explorers in pursuit of the long-lost underwater city of Atlantis, this action feature starred Michael J. Fox, Cree Summer, James Garner, Phil Morris, Don Novello, and Claudia Christian. Atlantis: The Lost Empire is now available for rental and purchase on home video as well as for streaming on Disney+.

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