Pacific Rim 2 Moving Forward with Steven S. DeKnight Directing

Pacific Rim 2 is a go. Deadline is reporting that Steven DeKnight will direct the sequel to the popular 2013 Guillermo del Toro science fiction movie, which featured man-made robots called Jaegers battle giant monstrous kaiju to the death. DeKnight is best known as the executive producer of Netflix's popular Daredevil series and as the creator of Starz's Spartacus series. This will be DeKnight's movie directorial debut.

Pacific Rim was a success at the box office, earning $411 million, and a sequel was announced in 2014. However, a dispute between production company Legendary and distributor Universal led to the movie getting pulled from Universal's release schedule and many feared the sequel would never reach production. However, del Toro has publicly pushed for a sequel and has periodically updated fans on news. This evening, he tweeted that "good news" was on the way about Pacific Rim 2, shortly before Deadline broke the story.

While there's no word on who will be returning for Pacific Rim 2, stars Charlie Hunnam and Rinko Kikuchi are expected to return as well as Charlie Day. Del Toro has also expressed interest in bringing in additional stars, such as Game of Thrones actress Maisie Williams. According to del Toro, the sequel will featured a deeper exploration into the world of the kaiju and will be "very different" from the original.