The highly-anticipated sequel to Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim now has a director: Steven S. DeKnight , creator of Spartacus as well as head writer and executive producer on Season 1 of Daredevil. Del Toro will be listed as a producer on the film.
Pacific Rim 2 marks DeKnight’s directorial debut. He has written, directed and produced on the small screen for years, with credits on Smallville, Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dollhouse.
Beset with production stalls and delays, it seemed like Pacific Rim 2 wasn’t even happening for a while. Guillermo del Toro remained stalwart, reassuring fans that Pacific Rim 2 was only delayed, not canceled , despite worrying rumors to the contrary .
While the man who made Daredevil on Netflix one of Marvel’s best recent offerings is by no means an inferior choice to helm Pacific Rim 2 , the question is certainly, why can’t del Toro do it? He has often spoken about how the universe of the film is “ close to his heart.”
But we do know that del Toro was closely involved with the decision to make DeKnight director. On Twitter, he posted:
Met w DeKnight and we are all so happy with our choice to take Pac Rim 2to where we know it can go!!
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) February 24, 2016
Now Pac Rim is a known property and we can expand big!
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) February 24, 2016
“We had a fantastic meeting of the minds,” del Toro said in an interview with HitFix , making his blessing more explicit. “We are positive that this is a great choice to take what was established and go beyond!”
Del Toro is currently developing Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark . He’s also in talks to develop and direct a remake of 1966’s sci-fi classic Fantastic Voyage .
The first Pacific Rim earned $101 million domestically, but had a soaring international payload that eventually raked in over $411 million worldwide. Over 75% of its earnings came from outside the U.S., which may be a factor for Legendary Pictures’ timidity in pursuing the sequel.
Pacific Rim 2 was originally scheduled for an Aug. 4, 2017 release date before being yanked off the Legendary and Universal schedule with no alternate release date yet posted. At least with news of a director, we may see Pacific Rim 2 in theatres sooner rather than later.
