Is that an apocalypse I smell, or just some Kaiju brown at the edge of hope? Well prepare for that apocalypse to be cancelled again and then some, because Pacific Rim 2 has just picked up pace and is moving ahead with some terrific casting news. Fresh out of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, comes news that John “Attack The Block” Boyega will join Pacific Rim 2 and lead the cast as the son of Idris Elba’s character Stacker Pentecost.
And a part of me hopes that his name is Doublestack Pentecost. Here’s the official word from Boyega himself:
I’ll be taking on the Pacific Rim franchise with Steven S.Deknight directing. Very excited!
— John Boyega (@JohnBoyega) June 6, 2016
Guillermo Del Toro, who directed the first Pacific Rim and will oversee this sequel, had this to say about Boyega:
I am very proud and happy to welcome John into a fantastic sandbox. The Pacific Rim universe will be reinforced with him as a leading man as it continues to be a multicultural, multi-layered world. ‘The World saving the world’ was our goal and I couldn’t think of a better man for the job.
As for Charlie Hunnam and Rinko Kikuchi reprising their roles in Pacific Rim 2, there’s no word yet on an official return from that pair. Pacific Rim 2 will also see Del Toro vacate the director’s chair and hand the job over to Stephen S. DeKnight, who will start production later this year on the Kaiju-bashing sequel. With Boyega as Pentecost’s son, there’s a lot of great opportunities here to build on that universe.
After all, if Stacker could pilot a Jaeger with the son of his old Kaiju-killing partner Her Hansen, then he’s probably also drift-compatible with Doublestack Pentecost. The previously confirmed news of Stephen S. DeKnight is also a good sign. As much as I love the work of Del Toro, having his fingers in so many projects at any given time means that his films take an agonizingly long time to materialise.
DeKnight is a TV veteran, having worked predominantly on the Spartacus series and Daredevil over on Netflix. It’ll be interesting to see how he handles the switch from Hell’s Kitchen to the bigger battlefields of Pacific Rim 2. And always remember: EMPTY THE CLIP! EMPTY THE CLIP!
Last Updated: June 7, 2016
Craig Lotter
June 13, 2016 at 10:37
As long as the mech doesn’t have a superior weapon onboard that isn’t used until late in the movie (use the damn sword already!!!), then cool, I’m definitely looking forward to it!