John Boyega Debuts First Photo From 'Pacific Rim: Uprising'
John Boyega is set to have a busy 2017, thanks to his upcoming Netflix original gangster-fairy-tale feature, Imperial Dreams, as well as that little sequel Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi. As if that mega-franchise weren’t enough to keep a young actor busy, Boyega is also hard at work on Pacific Rim: Uprising, the sequel to Guillermo del Toro’s 2013 hit about humanity’s efforts to combat giant Kaiju monsters by operating enormous robots. And while a trailer has yet to materialize, we now have our first peek from the set — courtesy of its star.
I am Pentecost
2018#PacificRimUprising pic.twitter.com/36BEwIVRVD— John Boyega (@JohnBoyega) February 7, 2017
Boyega’s tweet above provides us with our initial glimpse of his protagonist, Jake Pentecost — son of Idris Elba’s Stacker Pentecost from the first movie — who’ll be taking over for Charlie Hunnam’s Raleigh Becket as the hero of the Pacific Rim franchise. (Hunnam passed on the project due to scheduling conflicts.) That will mean he’ll be manning some of Earth’s gargantuan mecha Jaegers, which need to be piloted by two people simultaneously. Whether he’ll be doing so alongside Scott Eastwood’s new character, or possibly Rinko Kikuchi’s returning Mako Mori, is presently unknown, although Boyega’s photo does indicate that the film will be retaining the dark, dank sci-fi-industrial look of its predecessor.
While del Toro was involved in crafting this sequel’s story, he’s handed over directing duties to Steven S. DeKnight (best known for his work on TV’s Spartacus series, as well as Netflix’s Daredevil). Nonetheless, Pacific Rim: Uprising should provide more chaotic robo-monster-mash mayhem when it premieres in theaters on Feb. 23, 2018.
Imperial Dreams, meanwhile, is available on Netflix now. And Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi soars into theaters on Dec. 15.
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