The Pacific Rim Uprising cast reveal how they prepared to play the next generation of Jaeger pilots in a new featurette for the sci-fi action sequel. A love letter to the sci-fi and giant monster properties that Guillermo del Toro has long adored, the original Pacific Rim introduces the concept of Jaegers, aka. giant robots that require two humans to pilot and maneuver. In order to do so, however, these Jaeger pilots have to form a neural bridge (a process known as "drifting") and work in unison to control the machines as do battle with the mysterious Kaiju creatures invading our planet.

Uprising doesn't add new wrinkles to the ideas of "drifting" and people being "drift compatible", but it does introduce a younger generation of Jaeger pilots to lead the fight against the next wave of attacking Kaiju monsters. Star Wars' John Boyega stars in the film as Jake Pentecost, son of the late hero Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba) and a hotshot Jaeger pilot who is called upon to help train the new class of cadets at Jaeger academy. Among those who join the very-much-reluctant Jake in his quest are his old Jaeger co-pilot Nate Lambert (Scott Eastwood) and wide-eyed street orphan Amara Namani (Cailee Spaeny).

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In a video released exclusively to Screen Rant (to commemorate the film's digital release), the Uprising cast explains how they prepared to bring their Jaeger pilot trainees to life in the real world. Among those who weigh in here are Boyega and Spaeny, along with Karan Brar, Rahart Adams, and Ivanna Sakhno; the actors who play Amara's fellow cadets Suresh Khuran, Tahima Shaheen, and Viktoriya 'Vik' Malikova, respectively. In addition to interviews with those cast members, the video includes behind the scenes footage of the Uprising cast performing stunts and getting into their roles on the film's sets.

Among other things, the Uprising cast reveals in the video that director Steven S. DeKnight actively encouraged them to develop their own backstories for their characters and how they came to join the Jaeger program in the first place. Most of these details were either brushed over or didn't make it into the final movie result, but were no doubt helpful in informing the actors' performances during production. Of course, there's always the possibility that Pacific Rim 3 could delver further into the Jaeger pilots' histories and reveal more about what inspired them to join the war to begin with.

That being said, the odds of Pacific Rim 3 happening seem pretty slim at this stage. Uprising has thus far grossed $290 million at the worldwide box office on a $150 million production budget, so it probably hasn't broken even yet based on its theatrical gross alone. General audiences and critics alike were pretty lukewarm towards Uprising too, which will only make it all the more difficult for a third Pacific Rim movie to land a green-light in the foreseeable future. Of course, depending on how the film performs on home video, that outlook could start to improve in the months that lie ahead.

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Pacific Rim Uprising is now available in Digital HD. It will be made available to purchase on DVD and Blu-ray in two weeks from now, on June 19.

Source: Universal Pictures