For a while there, it looked like it might never happen at all, but Pacific Rim 2 is finally moving towards production. The sequel initially failed to get a greenlight from Universal, but it’s now back on track with original director Guillermo del Toro in a producer’s role, while Steven S. DeKnight has come in to helm. Now, bits and pieces have begun to spill out about the production, and what direction we can expect to see our favorite characters head in.
Speaking with THR, del Toro admitted that he’s hesitant to reveal too much about a film that he’s not actually 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.
Del Toro had originally intended that Charlie Day’s character from the first film would play a major role in the sequel, but that appears to be up in the air now. He has given DeKnight creative control over the story though, which means that the filmmaker can go in many different directions with it:
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.’
It’s nice to hear that del Toro isn’t trying to take too much of a hands-on role as producer, thus avoiding a film with too many creative visions potentially at odds with each other.
Finally, the Pan’s Labyrinth director mentions that the plot will explore the post-war world that the original left us with:
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.
While I wasn’t the biggest fan of the first Pacific Rim, I do think it will be interesting to see where this film goes, and specifically where DeKnight can take it. There was plenty of universe-building in the first outing, so Pacific Rim 2 doesn’t have to occupy itself with explaining how everything works. Instead, it can focus on an expansion of the characters, the world and new adventures.
Pacific Rim 2 is set for release on February 23rd, 2018.