Pacific Rim Uprising First Look Images Arrive

The first images from Pacific Rim Uprising have arrived, along with details on the new crop of Jaegers that will appear in the film. Following the success of Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim, next spring will see Steven S. DeKnight (Daredevil, Spartacus) attempt to pick up the story where it left off, with his sequel. DeKnight's movie will in turn introduce several new Jaegers, Kaiju, and, of course, human pilots to the Pacific Rim universe.

Joining Scott Eastwood's character Lambert in Pacific Rim Uprising will be John Boyega as Jake, the son of Idris Elba's Stacker from the first film. Once as close as brothers, the two were torn apart when Jake ran away from his training as a pilot and dove into the criminal underworld. Now, he'll be back and teaming up with Lambert in the Drift. We've already seen posters for both Lambert and Jake, as promotion for the film is about to kick into high gear. Now, we not only have more details on the movie, but our first look at the sequel's new Jaegers.

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EW has a collection of first look images for Pacific Rim Uprising, showing Jake, Lambert, and more of the Jaeger pilots in action. They also have images and details on the new machines that will help to save humanity in the sequel. You can check them out in the gallery below:

[vn_gallery name="Pacific Rim Uprising First Look Images" id="1082710"]

Along with shots of Lambert, Jake, and new pilot/hacker Amara, the film's four new Jaegers get the spotlight in these images. Front and center is Gipsy Avenger, an upgraded version of Gipsy Danger from Pacific Rim. Speaking with EW about the new film, Boyega went into some details regarding the Jaeger he and Lambert will be piloting:

“She is still a two-man Jaeger and has new weapons and technology. The new Gipsy has LCD screens and holographic imagery of what is going outside. Her gravity sling has improved. Pilots are no longer locked into robot by feet. It has a scanning system that makes the drift easier to handle. Gipsy Avenger is strongest and hardest to operate.”

Along with Gipsy Avenger, the new Jaegers will include: Saber Athena (the orangish-yellow one with the sword), an agile Jaeger who requires two pilots skilled in martial arts and wields two swords; Guardian Bravo (the red mech), a stocky and strong Jaeger equipped with electric whips; and Bracer Phoenix (the big one with the mace), who actually operates with three pilots, with the extra one manning the chest missiles and guns the Jaeger possesses. And Uprising won't just feature bigger and badder Jaegers, as there will be new Kaiju threats as well. Per Boyega:

“The Kaiju have found a new way. They are way more intelligent than we thought they were. The monsters you saw in the first movie were the test run, to see how the planet would hold up. The breach we thought was closed is not their only way into our world. Their plans are more specific. Jake leads the team in trying to build up a new defense against that.”

Joining Jake will be his partner in crime Amara. A hacker who cobbles together Jaegers from spare parts, she and Jake are living in the poor coastal areas harvesting tech and selling it on the black market. Eventually, they'll get in trouble so deep that Jake's sister Mako will offer them a choice: join the Jaeger program or else. For Jake, that decision will be fraught with baggage:

“Jake is the prodigal son. He is a young guy who was on the cusp of greatness in his early days when he was training to be a Jaeger pilot, but he always had a troubled relationship with Stacker. I’m the son he didn’t really talk about in the first film … the product of Stacker’s first love.”

Thanks to the new images and information, the plot of Uprising and how Jake will factor into things is much clearer now. This weekend will also see the debut of the first Pacific Rim Uprising trailer at New York Comic Con. Once that arrives, we'll finally get to see Gipsy Avenger and the rest of the new Jaegers in action before the movie hits theaters next year.