Guillermo del Toro Explains Why He Didn't Director PACIFIC RIM 2 and Why He Has Never Watched it

Director Guillermo del Toro recently opened up about what happened with Pacific Rim 2 and why he didn’t end up directing it. I remember the filmmaker being excited about working on the sequel, then all of a sudden he stepped down as the director and was replaced with Steven S. DeKnight (Daredevil).

So what happened? It all came down to the availability of the sound stages he was planning to shoot the film in. The studio dropped the ball on keeping them secure for him. He explained in an interview with Collider:

“We were getting ready to do it, it was different from the first, but it had a continuation of many of the things that I was trying to do. Then what happened is—I mean, this is why life’s crazy, right?—they had to give a deposit for the stages at 5 p.m. or we would lose the stages in Toronto for many months.

“So, I said, ‘Don’t forget we’re gonna lose the stages,’ and five o’clock came and went, and we lost the stages. They said, ‘Well, we can shoot it in China.’ And I go, ‘What do you mean we?’ [Laughs] ‘I’ve gotta go do Shape of Water.'”

So, the director went on to direct The Shape of Water which ended up winning the Oscar for Best Picture in 2017 with the director also picking up the Best Director award. As for Pacific Rim: Uprising, the movie ended up not being very good. Del Toro, went on to admit he hasn’t even watched the sequel and explained why saying:

“I didn’t see the final movie because that’s like watching home movies from your ex-wife. It is terrible if they’re good and worse if they’re bad, or the opposite. You don’t wanna know. So, I didn’t see it. I did read the final script, and it was very different. Some of the elements were the same but very different.”

The movie is set a decade after the events of the first film, the sequel follows a new generation of Jaeger pilots, including Jake Pentecost, son of the legendary Stacker Pentecost, who once helped save the world from the monstrous Kaiju. The story revolves around a mysterious rogue Jaeger causing destruction, hinting at a larger looming threat. As the new threats from both rogue Jaegers and the Kaiju emerge, these young pilots must come together to prevent global annihilation, working to keep the legacy of their forebears and once again save humanity from the brink of extinction.

Did you like Pacific Rim: Uprising? Do you think Del Toro would have made a better sequel?