A new update on an unexpected sequel kicks us off today. John Boyega, whose stars is firmly in the ascendant right now, has tweeted a picture of himself on the set of the new Pacific Rim film. We heard recently that Pacific Rim 2 had been christened Pacific Rim: Maelstrom.  Then the dizzying subtitle was ditched for the prosaic Pacific Rim Uprising which is perhaps more propulsive but does lack character.

The critical ground was split on Guillermo del Toro’s 2013 Monsters Vs. Robots sci-fi epic. The visual spectacle of the massive Earth-shattering battles were delivered with a sure hand, while the human side of the equation fell short. In the end the stage was too crowded for audiences to become invested in the struggle, despite a superlative opening sequence. Pacific Rim Beach In Uprising John Boyega will play the son of Idris Elba’s character from the first film (named, if you’ll remember, Stacker Pentecost, which may have been the best thing about the film), and he is set to be joined by some of the original cast.

Charlie Day and Burn Gorman (Doctors Newton Geiszler and Hermann Gottlieb, respectively) are said to be returning, as is Rinko Kukuchi’s Mako Mori. Scott Eastwood is also set to star in the film as Nate Lambert, though until we see a trailer we won’t know how all this fits together. Suffice to say that there are robots in the distance, and monsters to meet them.

Daredevil’s Steven S. DeKnight is taking over the director’s chair from del Toro and we’re currently looking at a late February, 2018 release date for the second Pacific Rim film.

Here’s the shot of Boyega from the set of Pacific Rim Uprising. Moody? Check. Metal? Check. Curious distortion of scale to make the odds against the tiny human seem insurmountable? Most definitely.

Pacific Rim Uprising Movie Image

John Boyega Pacific Rim UprisingAs a bonus here’s our discussion with del Toro about his thoughts on a sequel to Pacific Rim.