5 Ideas For A Pacific Rim 2 Or A Spinoff

• The Actual Sequel

Wait: Del Toro has already said he wants to do a Pacific Rim sequel? And he was hired, along with original co-writer Travis Beacham, to make a script back in December of last year? What are we waiting for then? I suppose we should address this most likely of directions first, and then start with the salivating fan fiction. Whatever these two cook up is no doubt going to be a hell of a lot cooler than anything your average viewer can, and Del Toro has already offered a few hints as to what the future might hold for the Rim-verse.

One particularly geeky possibility would involve a crossover with Godzilla, which would make for a nice homage to the world’s most popular Kaiju. Problem is, it wouldn’t make a lot of sense logistically: your average Godzilli ranges in size from about 50 to 100 meters, but a Kaiju can easily double that. King of all monsters or not, big G would find himself at a distinct disadvantage if he were to ever throw down with a Jaeger, let alone some of the breach’s nastier travellers. If Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla reboot scheduled for next year proves a big enough success to wipe away the stain left by 1998 edition, maybe then a crossover would make sense for Pacific Rim 2: Kaiju Boogaloo.

Where the real potential lies is in a pair of closed plot threads that could be wrenched opened without too much finagling. Charlie Day’s Newt, after drifting with a Kaiju brain, is connected to the extraterrestrial hivemind responsible for menacing earth, providing an important link between the two universes, even if the breach between the two is closed by the film’s end. Supposing he caught interdimensional wind of an even greater threat soon coming to earth, it might be all the justification needed for humans to open their own portal, for the Jaeger program to go on the offensive, build a breach of their own, and take the fight to the enemy on their home turf.

But what danger could possibly warrant a motley crew of new Jaeger pilots venturing beyond known time and space? Well, if you’ll recall, the climax of the first film saw Gipsey Danger, the Mark-3 Jaeger with a radioactive heart, go nuclear on the other side of the breach, destroying the alien puppeteers (that we know of) behind the Kaiju invasion. While Del Toro has mentioned the sequel would feature a brand new, 2.0 version of Gipsey, he also teased that the original may have partially survived its kamikaze mission, leaving it in the hands of an enemy eager to see what a Jaeger-Kaiju hybrid might be capable of. Can’t say I disagree.

Continue reading on the next page…