After a few years of rewrites and director changes, the sequel to 2013's Pacific Rim is finally underway. Recently revealed to be titled Pacific Rim: Maelstrom, the science fiction blockbuster has been building a new cast with director Steven S. DeKnight at the helm. With production currently filming in Australia, the film has added a new actor to the growing cast. Spartacus fans will recognize him as Nick Tarabay, who played Ashur on the popular show.
As reported by Variety, Nick Tarabay is the latest actor to join the cast of Pacific Rim: Maelstrom. No details were given about his character, but fingers crossed that he's a cool Jaeger pilot and not just some guy who doesn't drive a giant robot. Tarabay joins a cast that's headlined by John Boyega (who wet his feet in sci-fi last year in Star Wars: The Force Awakens) as well as Scott Eastwood and Jing Tian. After a bit of back and forth, Pacific Rim creator Guillermo del Toro opted not to return to direct the sequel, but still remains attached as a producer. Steven S. DeKnight is instead handling Pacific Rim: Maelstrom.
Nick Tarabay has made his name through a variety of recurring and guest roles on several genre TV shows. Pacific Rim: Maelstrom will be his biggest film project to date. Tarabay has appeared in television shows such as Arrow, Castle, Person of Interest, and Longmire, and he will star in a recurring role in Season 2 of Syfy's The Expanse. Tarabay is arguably best known as Ashur from Starz's popular TV series Spartacus. Not so coincidentally, DeKnight was the showrunner of Spartacus, so he probably had a small hand to play in getting Tarabay into a Jaeger.
Very little is currently known about the plot of Pacific Rim: Maelstrom. We know that it centers around John Boyega's Pentecost, who is the son of Idris Elba's character from the original film. It's unknown how many years this sequel takes place after the first film, or if any characters from that film will return (though Ron Perlman is rumored to be coming back). We can only guess what will take place, but Gullermo del Toro once said he'd like to see what a Jaeger-Kaiju hybrid would look like.
The original Pacific Rim ended with Charlie Day and Rinko Kikuchi's characters sealing the Kaiju portal to Earth, so the sequel will likely deal with that in some way. It's unclear how the Kaiju will return, or if the human race will have to fight back an entirely new enemy. In the meantime, stick with CinemaBlend and we'll keep you updated as new information becomes available.
