Pacific Rim 2 is coming. You already know this, though. No, the big news here is that John Boyega, fresh off of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, is going to be trying his hand at becoming a filmmaker, and seemingly using Pacific Rim as a star vehicle for himself.
John Boyega has joined the cast of Pacific Rim: Maelstrom, where he will be a main character and play the son of Stacker Pentecost, Idris Elba’s character from the first movie. There’s no word how he will fit into the plot of the movie (or what the movie is actually about in the first place), but there’s already a lot of speculation as to how important his character will be. Considering Mako from the original movie was Pentecost’s adopted daughter, the family dynamic there may be important.
The movie is supposed to begin shooting near the end of this year, though Boyega is the first star confirmed to be in this movie. No other stars have been announced to be returning, probably because they are still working on the script. I wouldn’t be worried that Raleigh and Mako will suddenly be written out of the story, but there’s no telling what might develop.
Speaking of developing, the biggest news out of this announcement is that John Boyega will be co-producing the film under his new production company, Upper Room Productions. He’ll presumably be creatively involved, so he’s already taking his first steps into becoming a filmmaker by using his Star Wars Cash to invest in this continuously-delayed sequel. Maybe he was a big fan of the original, or maybe he thinks that he could use this movie to catapult him further into stardom?
There’s no telling, but it’s exciting to see him join the project, which has been floundering for quite some time, being juggled between Warner Brothers and Universal and being delayed twice before being taken off the schedule, not to mention director Guillermo del Toro and screenwriter Travis Beacham leaving the project due to scheduling conflicts. It’s been a tough pre-production, but this news finally shows that the movie, now directed by Steven S. DeKnight (showrunner for Daredevil), is back on-track.
There’s no release date for the movie at this time, but stay tuned for more info as it develops.
Source: Deadline