Not long ago, the internet suffered a small explosion of nerd-fueled joy when news broke that Pacific Rim 2 would be hitting theaters in 2017. Today, we learned what that sequel will entail.

Earlier this week, Guillermo del Toro sat down for an interview with the Wall Street Journal that touched on his career and where it might be headed in the years to come. Eventually, the conversation turned to Pacific Rim 2 and Del Toro unleashed just enough insight about the highly anticipated sequel to leave film fans chomping at the bit for more. He said:

Screenwriter Zak Penn and I really went in, we started with screenwriter Travis Beacham about a year and a half ago, kicking ideas back and forth. And, admittedly, I said to Zak, let’s keep kicking ideas till we find one that really, really turns the first movie on its ear, so to speak. (…) It was hard to create a world that did not come from a comic book, that had its own mythology, so we had to sacrifice many aspects to be able to cram everything in the first movie. Namely, for example “the Drift”, which was an interesting concept. [Then there was] this portal that ripped a hole into the fabric of our universe, what were the tools they were using? And we came up with a really, really interesting idea. I don’t want to spoil it, but I think at the end of the second movie, people will find out that the two movies stand on their own. They’re very different from each other, although hopefully bringing the same joyful giant spectacle. But the tenor of the two movies will be quite different.

See what I mean? Just enough to pique your interest and not a single syllable more.

You can take from this interview what you will, but I think the most important aspect is that the idea of ‘the drift’ will be brought more into focus. It was indeed a cool aspect of the original film that largely went unexplained, so I am curious to see how exploring that technology can be leveraged in another giant monster battle.

del Toro also told WSJ that he plans to begin design work for Pacific Rim 2 in six weeks, including “some new jaegers and a lot of new kaiju.” We’ll bring you more on this film as soon as additional information becomes available.

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James Shotwell

James Shotwell is the founder of Under The Gun Review. He loves writing about music and movies almost as much as he loves his two fat cats. He's also the co-founder of Antique Records and the Marketing Coordinator for Haulix. You should probably follow him on Twitter.

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