We knew that PACIFIC RIM 2 would take place some time after the original film, and that original stars Charlie Hunnam and Rinko Kikuchi would probably not return (at least not front-and-center). However, Charlie Day's character drifted with a Kaiju in the first film, which we knew would play a significant part in the sequel, and Guillermo Del Toro has confirmed that Day will be returning alongside Burn Gorman.
Del Toro's own words:
“It’s a few years after the first one. It’s not an immediate follow-up. It is the world having been freed of Kaiju, what happens to the world after – what happens to the Jaeger technology once the Kaiju are not a threat. It’s quite a jump…it’s quite a different movie from the first one in that, but I think that two of our main characters like in the first one are Burn and Charlie. They are really, really – I mean, honestly, they are probably the guys I have the most fun writing along with Hannibal Chau so just from a purely selfish drive, I like writing them. I love writing for Charlie and Burn. I mean, [Burn's] in CRIMSON PEAK for that reason, because I love working with him. You’re gonna get a lot of that, but the Kaijus are very different and you’re gonna see a very different type of the robots I think. It’s gonna be quite a different adventure.”
I thought Day and Gorman's characters were played a tad too broad the first time I saw PACIFIC RIM, but upon revisiting the film I found myself charmed by their archetypal eggheadiness and enthusiasm. They're not Jaegar pilots, so I'd expect we'll be hearing about a few more…shall we say tough co-leads to do the actual Kaiju beating while Geiszler and Gottlieb figure stuff out on the ground. Assuming day signed a multi-film contract the first time around, then we can be pretty sure we'll be seeing him sweat and squeal once more when PAC RIM 2 swings around in three years.
Does his wording mean that Hannibal Chau's coming back as well? If so, I can't wait to see him and Day square off again.
PACIFIC RIM 2 rocket punches your face on April 7th, 2017.
