The PPDC (Pan Pacific Defense Corps) is famous for one thing: kicking kaiju ass. To ward off any impending apocalypse, Pacific Rim‘s fictional organization formed an international alliance in order to spearhead the Jaeger program, thereby creating a fleet of skyscraper-sized robots designed for the sole purpose of going up close and personal with otherworldly aliens.
But as we learned during the finale of Guillermo del Toro’s 2013 creature feature, those city-levelling kaiju were actually being deployed as clones, allowing the alien population to control their monsters from afar. As sequels tend to do, Pacific Rim: Uprising is all set to expand on the mythology introduced via del Toro’s cult favorite, and the first wave of set videos suggest that humanity will soon be locking horns with those unsightly puppeteers on a ground level.
Embedded below, you’ll be able to pinpoint the PPDC logo emblazoned on a heavily armored vehicle, which all but confirms that the organization will be fighting a more traditional war by the time Uprising rolls around in 2018. These photos, taken on location in Sydney, first surfaced via Instagram.
The final Instagram post is accompanied with some intriguing insight into the potential plot of Pacific Rim: Uprising. It’s by no means official, but it does give some context as to why John Boyega (Jake Pentecost) and Scott Eastwood (Nate Lamber) were seen running around the streets in their Jaeger gear in previous set pics. Perhaps they’ll also spearhead the human resistance from a ground level? We’ll find out soon enough.
Pacific Rim: Uprising deploys into theaters on February 23rd, 2018. Jing Tian, Lana Condor, Cailee Spaeny, Adria Arjona and Ukrainian up-and-comer Ivanna Sakhno co-star.
