Tippi Hedren is the only actor to return from the first film. However, she does not play the Melanie Daniels character she played in The Birds (1963), but a minor character named Helen.
The plan to make a sequel to The Birds was in the works since the 1960s, however it was not until 1993 that Universal Pictures financed the project as a product for television and the VHS market.
When Tippi Hedren was hired she was actually going to play Malanie from the first movie, and she was really happy about it, but then the script was reworked and Malanie became the character Helen. Hedren was disappointed in the little weight and importance that was given to the new character and after the film's premiere felt disappointed in the film.
Alan Smithee, the pseudonym used when a director wants to disown the final film, writing "...but the poster and the cassette box that Showtime sent along with the review tape clearly say that Rick Rosenthal directed 'Birds II'..." before adding "You have good reason to want your name deleted. If it were me, I would sue."