Pacific Rim 2 Almost Didn’t Include Charlie Day's Newt

Pacific Rim Uprising director Steven S. DeKnight reveals in an exclusive interview with Screen Rant that Charlie Day almost didn't return as Dr. Newt Geiszler. Plus, the filmmaker explains how the creative team would have replaced Day's character in the sequel to Pacific Rim. Uprising spent a number of years in development before finally making its way to theaters earlier this year. At first, Pacific Rim director Guillermo del Toro developed the sequel, but stepped away to helm The Shape of Water.

Then, DeKnight signed on as director, and later, original star Charlie Hunnam departed to work on Papillon. As a result of these director and cast changes, Uprising went through a number of scripts. Ultimately, Pacific Rim Uprising features a mix of returning and new characters, with John Boyega starring as Jake Pentecost, the son of the original's Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba). Returning Pacific Rim characters included Rinko Kikuchi as Mako Mori, Burn Gorman as Dr. Hermann Gottlieb, and Day as Newt. However, it turns out Uprising almost didn't include Newt.

While speaking to Screen Rant to promote the home release of Pacific Rim Uprising, filmmaker Steven S. DeKnight reveals there was a brief period of time when it looked like Day wouldn't be able to return for the sequel. DeKnight goes on to explain how the movie would have replaced his character as the human antagonist in the sequel. DeKnight said:

I was very adamant about the Charlie Day, Burn Gorman relationship, which I thought was really a key element to this movie that carried over from the first movie. There was a horrible 48-hour beginning period when we were gearing up that looked like we were going to lose Charlie Day due to a scheduling problem, and so had to come up with ideas: “OK, so if we lose Charlie Day, what happens?” And it became everything from, Charlie’s ex-wife was the villain, to zany idea were [Dr. Herman] Gottlieb has a twin brother, who was the evil twin. But thankfully we worked out Charlie’s schedule, because that’s something throughout all of the drafts that pretty much stayed consistent was the Newt/Gottlieb dynamic and storyline.

As indicated by DeKnight, the relationship between Newt and Gottlieb was an important aspect of the first Pacific Rim, with the pair being key to defeating the Kaiju. The two were also fan-favorite characters, with the relationship being a beloved aspect of the movie. So, it's understandable that DeKnight would want it to carry over into the sequel, and evolve. Undoubtedly, it evolved in an interesting way as Newt was revealed to be a pawn of the Precursors due to having drifted with a Kaiju brain in the first movie. In Uprising, he turns out to be a villain, and betrays his fellow humans by bringing the Kaiju back to Earth. The Pacific Rim Uprising ending shows Newt was captured by Jake, a scene that sets up a potential Pacific Rim 3.

It's fascinating to hear what would have happened if Day hadn't been able to reprise his role as Newt, especially since the options DeKnight considered would have been even more wild than what ultimately appeared in the movie. Introducing an evil twin is a classic villain twist in pop culture, and may have been fun for viewers. That said, considering how important the dynamic between Newt and Gottlieb is to the fans of Pacific Rim, it's likely for the best that Day was able to work out his scheduling issue and reprise his role for Uprising. Still, it's fun to hear what could have happened if this one aspect of Pacific Rim Uprising had been different.