‘Pacific Rim 2’ Loses Lead Actor Charlie Hunnam to Scheduling Conflicts; Currently Set to Star John Boyega, Scott Eastwood

‘Pacific Rim 2’ will not feature the return of Charlie Hunnam as the actor reportedly dropped out because of scheduling conflicts. The sequel is currently set to star John Boyega and Scott Eastwood.

According to Superherohype, Hunnam will not be returning to the science-fiction monster series to reprise his role as Jaeger pilot Raleigh Becket. He admitted that he was prompted to make his decision because of scheduling conflicts.

He said, “There was definitely an incarnation of this sequel that involved me, but there was a changing of ownership, of the studio itself, Legendary, and I think that because they partnered up with a Chinese company — and the film was so successful there — there was a real agenda to get that film into production as soon as possible… And I was already booked up for a significant period of the time they were going to need.”

The sequel originally had original director Guillermo del Toro and original screenwriter Jon Spaihts on board but the two dropped out of the project. Del Toro abandoned the sequel in favor of his upcoming monster-drama ‘The Shape of Water’. The second film’s plot was also created to focus on Raleigh Becket but it seems that it will now have to be scrapped following Hunnam’s departure.

During a previous interview with Yahoo! Movies, Hunnam said that he was very excited for the sequel despite being unavailable. He said, “I read an early draft of what they’re doing… They have a very definite schedule that they have to film because of the politics and business surrounding filmmaking. Sometimes noncreative decisions will dictate how something unfolds, which seems backwards in the fact that we’re making art, or at least aspiring to make art. It ended up being unfortunately something that we couldn’t remedy, because by the time they got their schedule fully realized then I wasn’t available.”

He added, “But I think they’re onto something very exciting. It’s a serious, significant progression. It feels like they’re really aspiring to push this thing forward and do something original with the sequel. So it’s cool.” 

Currently attached to the film are Max Martini of ‘13 Hours: The Soldiers of Benghazi’, John Boyega of ‘Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens’ and Scott Eastwood of ‘Suicide Squad’. It remains unknown whether Rinko Kikuchi’s Mako Mori or Charlie Day’s Dr. Newton Geiszler will be returning to the series.

‘Pacific Rim 2’, otherwise entitled ‘Pacific Rim: Maelstrom’, is an upcoming science-fiction monster film directed by Steven S. DeKnight. It is produced under Legendary Pictures and Universal Pictures and is set for a February 23, 2018 release in the United States.

It is intended as the sequel to 2013’s ‘Pacific Rim’, which earned $411 million worldwide against a production budget of $190 million. Although it didn’t reach box office expectations in the United States, it fared well in other territories especially in China.