Caffeinated Film

And neither will his abs.

While Pacific Rim 2 has officially been announced, outside of the recently added John Boyega, no one has any idea who the hell is even going to be in this movie. All we know is who isn’t: Charlie Hunnam.

Hunnam starred as the lead Raleigh Beckett in the first Pacific Rim, and he was set to return in the original script for the sequel, back when it was being directed by Guillermo Del Toro. But things change, including directors. The film has experienced multiple delays, and Daredevil’s Steven S. DeKnight has stepped up to replace Del Toro as director. With a new director comes a new script, penned by Emily Charmichael and Kira Snyder. Yet Hunnam was still set to play a role in this new script as well.

So what changed?

Turns out it’s as simple as a scheduling conflict, straight from the Hunnam’s mouth. While I won’t shed too many tears over the loss of the generic Beckett, it does make me fearful over the prospect of none of the original cast returning. Charlie Day was set to play a huge role in the sequel, but sadly nothing has been heard since. My biggest fear however is the potential loss of Rinko Kikuchi’s character Mako Mori, who was the heart and soul of the original film (and let’s face it, should have been the fucking lead in the first place). With the loss of Hunnam, my hope of seeing Mako Mori again is slowly diminishing.

There is only John Boyega.

I’m still extremely excited for a Pacific Rim sequel, but with the lack of any news regarding any returning cast members, I’m concerned we may be looking at something of a soft reboot for the second entry in the franchise, with the only connective tissue being Boyega playing the son of Stacker Pentecost, Idris Elba’s character from the first film. Oh well, at the very least we’ll get to see John Boyega kick some kaiju ass in his John Bojaegger.

(I’m sorry.)