Universal Pictures has unveiled the very first Pacific Rim Uprising poster ahead of the film’s highly anticipated trailer debut next week at New York Comic-Con. The sequel was never a foregone conclusion, as Guillermo del Toro’s original 2013 “monsters vs. robots” movie was just successful enough to turn a profit. But huge numbers in China convinced Legendary to forge ahead with a sequel, this time with Universal taking over the distribution instead of Warner Bros.

Del Toro was initially developing Pacific Rim 2 to direct, but he subsequently exited the director’s chair to focus on getting The Shape of Water up and running. Daredevil Season 1 showrunner Steven S. DeKnight then stepped in and took over the project, shepherding what is now Pacific Rim Uprising to fruition.

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Image via Legendary

This follow-up stars John Boyega as Jake Pentecost, the son of Idris Elba’s character from the first movie, and the story takes place 10 years after the events of Pacific Rim. The Jaeger program has now evolved and expanded into a massive global defense force after the Battle of the Breach, which comes in handy when the Kaiju threat returns.

This debut poster shows that Jake is very drift compatible with his own Jaeger, and I’m very curious to see how the tech of Pacific Rim has evolved in this sequel. One of the greatest strengths of Guillermo del Toro’s first film was its world building, so there’s certainly a lot to expand upon in a follow-up. Screenplay-wise, the credits on this one are as follows: Story by DeKnight and T.S. Nowlin (Maze Runner), and screenplay by Emily Carmichael (Adventures of Ledo and Ix) & Kira Snyder (The Handmaid’s Tale) and DeKnight and Nowlin.

Check out the Pacific Rim Uprising poster below, via Boyega's Twitter, and come back next week to watch the trailer. The film also stars Scott Eastwood, Jing Tian, Cailee Spaeny, Rinko Kikuchi, Burn Gorman, Adria Arjona, and Charlie Day. Pacific Rim: Uprising opens in theaters on March 23, 2018.

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Image via Legendary
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Image via Legendary
pacific-rim-uprising-poster
Image via Legendary