Pacific Rim Uprising Ending & Pacific Rim 3 Tease Explained

MAJOR SPOILERS for Pacific Rim Uprising ahead.

Pacific Rim Uprising ends with a major Kaiju versus Jaeger battle in Japan but teases that the real war for mankind's future lies ahead. We break down the ending of the epic monster sequel and explore what may be in store for the franchise's future.

Pacific Rim sold itself on the most delightfully simple concept imaginable; giant robots punching giant monsters. It helped the project was the creation of Guillermo del Toro, a filmmaker who earned his geek cred many times over with the Hellboy movies and Pan's Labyrinth. The director took his love of monster movies, anime, Saturday morning cartoons, video games, manga and mushed them all together in Pacific Rim, infusing the movie with colorful visuals and arresting set pieces. While the movie tried to spread a message about humanity working together for a common goal, the story and characters took a backseat to robots punching monsters; as it should.

Pacific Rim Uprising has a few key changes from the original. Steven S. DeKnight directs, as del Toro opted to leave to direct The Shape Of Water instead; a wise decision, judging by the Oscar sitting on his mantle. Previous leading man Charlie Hunnam has also been swapped out for Star Wars' John Boyega playing Jake Pentecost son of Idris Elba's Stacker from the original. The movie is set 10 years after the events of Pacific Rim, where mankind has enjoyed a blissful period of no giant monster attacks. Being a sequel, that peace obviously can't last, and soon Jake and his team must face all new threats and the realization someone on their side may be helping the monsters come through.

This Page: Pacific Rim Uprising's Ending Explained

What The Precursors Really Want

Pacific Rim revealed the Kaiju were actually created by a race of alien beings called the Precursors. These creatures opened a Breach at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean from their homeworld the Anteverse and sent through ever larger monsters with the intent of wiping out mankind and colonizing Earth. They were doing quite well, until Charlie Hunnam's Raleigh Becket dropped a nuclear bomb into their universe during the finale, killing the Precursors present and sealing The Breach.

It was believed the Precursors were just going to keep sending through giant monsters to weaken humanity to the point they could simply take over, but Pacific Rim Uprising reveals there was a method to their madness. It turns out the creatures were actually headed to Mount Fuji in Japan, for once the hyper-volatile blood of a Kaiju mixes with an active volcano, it would trigger an extinction event that would both wipe out every living creature on Earth, and also terraform the atmosphere for the Precursors (a story twist that makes a pretty strange plot hole).

How Humanity Beats The Precursors (And Their Human Mole)

In the original movie scientist Newt Geiszler (Charlie Day) "drifts" (AKA forms a psychic connection) with a Kaiju brain to understand their purpose and uncovers the Precursor plot. In the decade between the two movies, Newt has become the head of a program that will replace Jaeger pilots with remote control drones, alongside scientist Liwan Shao (Jing Tian). These drones combine Jaeger tech with cloned Kaiju cells, but midway through the story, these hybrid drones launch an attack on the main Jaeger base and open breaches around the world that allow three massive Kaijus to come over from the Anteverse.

The story then reveals Newt is behind everything, as his experiences drifting in the original left him vulnerable to the Precursors psychic influence. They've been using him to form a plan to end the world once and for all.

In the end, Jake leads his rookie team of pilots to Japan, where all four Jaegers engage the Kaijus in destructive combat. Watching the chaos from a rooftop, Newt then unleashes a swarm of robots that fuse the wounded monsters into one giant, borderline unkillable Kaiju. All the Jaegers are defeated in combat except for Jake's Gypsy Avenger, and the team come up with a madcap scheme to weld a giant rocket to Gypsy and drop it right onto the Kaiju as it ascends Mount Fuji. Jake and his young co-pilot Amara make it in the nick of time, killing the monster with a high-speed punch. Scott Eastwood's Nate Lambert, not wanting to be left out, takes down Newt.

The Final Pacific Rim 3 Tease Explained

The final scene of Pacific Rim Uprising feels like it was intended to be a post-credit cliffhanger, but the filmmakers decided it was a little too weak and bolted it to the end of the movie instead. This scene finds Jake confronting the captured and still possessed Newt, who insists the Precursors will keep trying and will eventually wipe out humanity. Jake then insists that instead of waiting for another attack, mankind is going to take the fight to the Precursors.

It's an ending setup eerily reminiscent of Independence Day: Resurgence, which also promised to take the fight to the aliens for a third movie that will likely never happen. The Pacific Rim 3 tease at least promises a new environment for the giant monsters and robots to stomp around in, but while Uprising is an entertaining blockbuster, it feels like Legendary are currently testing the brand to see if it will evolve into a full-blown franchise. That remains to be seen, as the movie would have to pull in a respectable box office numbers worldwide to justify the cost of a third adventure. That said, there are certainly some ways the franchise could help audiences get excited about one more launch into The Breach.

What We Want In Pacific Rim 3

In addition to Pacific Rim, Legendary is also behind the MonsterVerse, the shared universe that features Godzilla and King Kong. Those titans are set to clash in 2020's Godzilla Vs Kong, but beyond that literal monster mash, there don't seem to be further plans to develop the franchise. Fans have long felt a crossover between the three franchises is inevitable, but Legendary seem weirdly shy about that notion.

Uprising helmer Steven S. DeKnight recently confirmed he has an idea for a potential third Pacific Rim movie that would make a MonsterVerse crossover possible - but it was entirely up to Legendary. This appears to indicate Pacific Rim 3 actually could be a crossover between the properties, or at the very least set it all up. Legendary may be waiting to see if Uprising proves Pacific Rim has legs on its own, but merging it with the MonsterVerse is certainly a viable option even if the sequel underperforms. Some retooling would be necessary to link the various franchises together since the characters in 2014's Godzilla don't seem aware of the existence of giant creatures despite the very first Kaiju from Pacific Rim attacking the previous year. On the other hand, Pacific Rim has established the idea of multiple universes, so it could be done.

On a curious side note, it's worth mentioning the character of Liwan Shao in Pacific Rim Uprising is played by Jing Tian, who also appeared in Kong: Skull Island as San Lin. Lin works for Monarch in that film, the organization dedicated to finding and uncovering giant monsters like Godzilla and Kong. Now it's possible Legendary hired Tian for Uprising without even considering her appearance as two separate characters could prove messy if they decided to combine the franchises, but perhaps it was intentional. Uprising is set 62-years after the events of Skull Island, so it's possible Shao could be a descendant of Lin, providing a small link to the MonsterVerse and Monarch. Or and admittedly just as likely - it could just be a coincidence.

What a potential Pacific Rim 3 definitely needs is the return of John Boyega, whose humor and charisma carries Uprising through its weaker moments. The return of Charlie Hunnam could be fun too, but Boyega is a must. On the flipside, Scott Eastwood leaves almost no impression despite his prominent co-starring role, so his character probably wouldn't be missed next time out. Pacific Rim Uprising also proves a little light on creatures; the Jaeger/Kaiju hybrids are a fun concept but the execution is kind of forgettable, and actual Kaijus only show up in the final act. Pacific Rim 3 would need to get much more creative on that end and bring some of del Toro's flair with memorable monsters back.

More: Pacific Rim Uprising Initially Had Many More Cameos