Just when you'd given up hope on ever seeing them again, the Kaiju and Jaegers from Pacific Rim have risen from the dusts of delay, and been put back on the active roster of Legendary Pictures' many future projects. Unfortunately, this cinematic necromancy has come at the cost of the director's chair, as Guillermo del Toro is letting someone else take his epic universe of monsters and mechas out for the second time around.
The news was just broken by The Wrap, who states that Guillermo del Toro will remain a producer on the newly revived sequel. Taking his place in the director's chair is Steven S. DeKnight, the man who recently vacated the show-runner post on Marvel's successful Netflix series, Daredevil. No word has been issued yet on what the new release date would be, whether Universal would still be distributing, or if any re-writes will be made to the script that was turned into the studio brass last year.
Surprise is the word of the night, as this item involving the return of Pacific Rim 2 has come out of nowhere, coming from a source close to the project. The biggest question this revival has us asking is just what happened behind the scenes that made the previously dumped project a going concern. This may have been due to Guillermo del Toro ceding the director's chair to someone that the studio may have felt was more marketable, thus securing a budget and a strategy for production. Thankfully, Uncle Guillermo was involved with the selection process for his Pacific Rim 2 successor, as he teased the announcement earlier this evening, and provided the following supplement to the recent news:
Seeing Pacific Rim 2 moving forward is an excellent development, while still being a little bittersweet at the same time. This film is obviously Guillermo del Toro's baby, and seeing him hit with setback after setback was pretty sad during the slow march towards the sequel's holding pattern. But this was a possibility that del Toro had prepared fans for, as he'd previously stated that he still had faith that the film would happen.
On the bright side, with a director like Steven S. DeKnight in the mix, it does bring two new factors to Pacific Rim 2 that could help it in the end: a fresh perspective, and another successful name to hang its hat on. Here's hoping that the second chapter in the Pacific Rim series helps keep the franchise in the game, lending itself to the rich universal expansion that its creator feels it deserves. Besides, if Pacific Rim 2 is in safe hands, then this leave Guillermo del Toro to tackle Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark. If that's not a win, we don't know what is!
