‘Pacific Rim 2’ Will Have ‘A Lot’ of Returning Cast Members

Since Pacific Rim hit theaters in 2013, Guillermo del Toro has been talking about his plans for the sequel, which would include expanded roles for Charlie Day and Burn Gorman. Those plans grew to include an animated series and a comic book before Universal swooped in like Stacker Pentecost and canceled Pacific Rim 2 — well, not for long. The sequel is most definitely back on with former Daredevil showrunner Steven S. DeKnight taking the director’s chair, but with del Toro out, how much of his original story plan remains?

Del Toro is still producing Pacific Rim 2, which will star John Boyega (as Idris Elba’s son!) and Scott Eastwood — but what about the original cast? Although del Toro couldn’t confirm anything specifically, he did tell THR that we can expect “a lot” of cast members from the original to return, though he declined to say which ones:

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.

If things go according to plan for Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur movie, then Warner Bros. will have Charlie Hunnam locked down for a full franchise, which means he may not be available to cancel the apocalypse anytime soon. Mostly, I just want to see Rinko Kikuchi back in a jaeger, fighting some gnarly Kaiju alongside John Boyega. And if they can get Charlie Day and Burn Gorman back, too, that’d be great.

Del Toro also touched on the plot for Pacific Rim 2, which will take place in a “postwar” universe — or universes, plural:

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.

As for the animated series, that appears to be on hold so they can “let the live-action lead.” But according to del Toro, some of his ideas for the show will probably make their way into the new film:

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.’

Pacific Rim 2 hits theaters on February 23, 2018.