Cailee Spaeny joins Pacific Rim 2 as female lead

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

After some ups and downs that made some fans think it would never happen, the sequel to Guillermo del Toro's 2013 "mech vs. kaiju" film PACIFIC RIM is moving forward at full steam, with Steven S. DeKnight set to direct the sequel (which may be called PACIFIC RIM: MAELSTROM) from a script by JURASSIC WORLD's Derek Connolly.

So far the cast consists of John Boyega as the male lead, a character who is the son of Idris Elba's character from the first film, and Scott Eastwood. The production has now taken another major step forward, signing actress/singer Cailee Spaeny as the female lead.

No details have been revealed on how this sequel will be following up the story of the original, which was

set in the near future with Earth at war with the Kaiju, monsters that emerged from an interdimensional portal at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

One can probably safely assume that it will involve giant machines fighting giant monsters, though.

Guillermo del Toro remains attached to the project as producer, alongside Thomas Tull, Mary Parent, Jon Jashni, Boyega, and Femi Oguns. Cale Boyter is executive producing.

PACIFIC RIM 2 will be filmed in Australia and China, with filming scheduled to begin in November. That gives the filmmakers around fifteen months to get it through production and post in time for its February 23, 2018 release date.

Landing the PACIFIC RIM gig is a huge breakthrough for Spaeny, who just earned her first acting credits this year with the short thriller COUNTING TO 1000 and a role as a cashier in the hour-long drama THE SHOES.