‘Pacific Rim Uprising' Director Discusses Importance of First Movie
The battle between the Jaegers and Kaiju will continue to escalate during the second installation [...]
The battle between the Jaegers and Kaiju will continue to escalate during the second installation of the Pacific Rim franchise, Pacific Rim Uprising, and according to director Steven S. DeKnight much of what happened in the first movie will carry over to the second.
DeKnight told ComicBook.com during an exclusive interview at New York Comic Con, that he and his team took a lot of deep cuts from the first film and made sure that the story was in sync as the production moved forward.
"We did a deep dive, forensic investigation on the first movie," DeKnight said in the video above. "We wanted to figure out the best ways to call back to it and the use of the first movie.
"The first movie is really important to this movie because there are things that happen in the first movie that carry over into this movie, where this would not exist without that."
The war against the Kaiju appeared to be over after the Battle of the Breach in the first Pacific Rim. However following a decade of peace -- though the Pacific Rim Defense Corps remained vigilant in preparing new Jaegers in case the Kaiju ever made a comeback -- it appears all will not be well.
Pacific Rim Uprising will usher in a new generation of pilots ready to go into battle against a new wave of monsters.
The storyline, according to DeKnight during the discussion at NYCC2017, will stick right in step with continuity.
"(We want) to take the first movie and expand upon it," he said. "Most specifically, look at the first movie and really talk about if you want to wipe out humanity and your throwing giant monsters at them -- which is a little tough to wipe everyone out -- so was that the full plan? Was there another component to it? That was our big jumping off point of focus."
Pacific Rim Uprising stars John Boyega as Jake Pentecost, the son of Stacker Pentecost, the high-ranking PPDC officer who was played by Idris Elba in the first film.
Stacker's adopted daughter Mako Mori will also return in the sequel, played again by Rinko Kikuchi. Charlie Day and Burn Gorman will also reprise their roles from the original.
New cast members joining the universe in Pacific Rim Uprising include Scott Eastwood, Cailee Spaeny, Adria Arjona, and Jing Tian.
Pacific Rim: Uprising opens in theaters on March 23, 2018.