The sequel Pacific Rim Uprising arrives to cancel the apocalypse (again) next month, which means that marketing for the John Boyega headlined blockbuster is picking up speed now, as evidenced by the release of the second theatrical trailer. Whereas his onscreen father (Idris Elba's Stacker Pentecost) was a supporting player in the original Pacific Rim, Boyega's Jake Pentecost has served as the face of the trailers, posters, and TV spots for Uprising, and appears to be the main protagonist of the movie itself.
Although Spartacus creator and Daredevil season 1 showrunner Steven S. DeKnight is holding the directing reins on the Pacific Rim sequel instead of Guillermo del Toro, he and his team of writers are embracing the same concept of an unified front of international Jaeger pilots setting their differences aside to team up and protect the planet from gigantic monstrous Kaijus, which was the very basis for del Toro's original film. This being a sequel, the Kaijus are now more evolved (read: bigger and badder), and the humans have designed new and improved Jaegers in order to do battle with them again. The spectacle in Uprising promises to be even more destructive than the city-wrecking that went down in its predecessor, as the new trailer for the film illustrates.
Related: Here's Why del Toro Isn't Directing Pacific Rim Uprising
In addition to calling attention to the Kaijus' new powers and the fresh threat that earth now faces, the second Uprising trailer also takes some time to shed light on the larger plot of the film, including the Jake Pentecost character and his role to play in all this. Boyega is already world famous thanks to his role as the stormtrooper-turned Resistance fighter Finn in the current Star Wars trilogy, but the Pacific Rim sequel will be the first true test of his ability to carry a franchise squarely on his shoulders.
Fortunately, as Boyega told Empire Magazine, DeKnight allowed him the freedom to inject more of himself into the role of Jake Pentecost, and ensure that the character is a far cry from the loveably scrappy hero that Boyega is known for playing in a galaxy far, far away:
“Steve gives me freedom to rewrite my lines, give them more seasoning. I think Jake is a South London boy. So being a South London boy myself, I’d add a bit of that rudeness to it. Kaiju can’t hack South London.”
Reprising her role from the first Pacific Rim in the sequel is Rinko Kikuchi as a now ten years older Mako Mori, with Charlie Day and Burn Gorman also back to once again bounce off the walls as the Kaiju obsessed scientists Dr. Newton Geiszler and Dr. Herman Gottlieb, respectively. Meanwhile, joining Boyega as the members of the new generation of Jaeger pilots are Scott Eastwood as Jake's old pal Nate Lambert and Cailee Spaeny as computer hacker Amara Namani, along with Adria Arjona (Emerald City) and Tian Jiang (Kong: Skull Island) as newcomers Jules Reyes and Liwen Shao.
MORE: del Toro's Pacific Rim 2 Would've Destroyed San Francisco
Source: Universal/Legendary, Empire Magazine
