WhilePacific Rim 2has certainly been picking up steam recently as new directorSteven S. DeKnight(DaredevilSeason 1) preps the film to finally start shooting, we’ve heard precious little about how the story will continue.Pacific Rimset up a number of relationships and characters that could be expanded upon in the sequel, and indeed directorGuillermo del Toropreviously teased that the follow-up would findCharlie Day’s character becoming a major figure in terms of plot.
However, since that timeUniversal waveredon whether to greenlight the project, and when DeKnightstepped in to direct, del Toro shifted to a producer role on the follow-up. We know thatJohn Boyegaisostensibly the star of this sequel, playing the son ofIdris Elba’s Stacker Pentecost as well as producing the film, but what aboutCharlie HunnamorRinko Kikuchi’s characters? IsPacific Rim 2maintaining only the universe from the first film?
THRrecently spoke with del Toro who, while respecting the fact that DeKnight is the film’s director, did tease that we can expectsomereturning cast members:
“As a producer I learned not to declare anything about a movie I’m not directing. I can tell you this — a lot of the cast from the first movie is coming back. I leave those communications to Steven DeKnight. He’s not only a director, but he’s actually a guy I respect and admire and it’s his movie.”
We recently heard thatScott Eastwoodwas in talks for a role in the picture, but it’ll be interesting to see who, exactly, comes back from the first film and what role they have to play in the follow-up. There’s no guarantee that Day also has the same significant role that del Toro initially intended, as the filmmaker tells THR that when DeKnight was hired to direct, he gave him control over the story he wanted to tell:
“The the sequel takes some ideas that we created for the animated series originally. I think we need to let the live-action lead. When we went with Steven we showed him everything we were developing and he said, ‘I like this from this universe, I like this from this element, I want to bring them into the movie.’”
The animated series del Toro is referring to is thein-development TV adaptationofPacific Rim, but it sounds like that’s on hold a bit while everyone’s focused on the sequel. And in terms of story, del Toro noted thatPacific Rim 2takes place in a postwar world, so they’ll be exploring that aspect of the universe:
“It’s easy to expand cause you have not only the Jaeger-human universe and the Kaiju-alien universe, but (also) the fact that you are now able to play in a very history-filled universe. We started the war with the Kaiju, we won the war with the Kaiju and now it’s a postwar of those two universes.”
I was a big fan of the world-building that went intoPacific Rimand was immediately eager to spend more time in the universe, so I’m excited to dive intoPacific Rim 2even though it’s a tad disappointing that del Toro isn’t at the helm. Here’s hoping DeKnight has put together a worthwhile follow-up.Pacific Rim 2is slated for release on August 24, 2025.
