Star Wars 7's John Boyega Gets Pacific Rim 2 Lead Role

John Boyega will star in the sequel to Pacific Rim. It has been confirmed that the Star Wars: The Force Awakens actor will head the cast of the upcoming sci-fi action movie.

As reported by Deadline, Boyega will play the son of the character portrayed by Idris Elba in the original 2013 film, which was directed by Guillermo Del Toro. Pacific Rim 2 will be helmed by former Daredevil showrunner Steven S. DeKnight, with Del Toro executively producing and co-writing.

Del Toro spoke to the site about the decision to cast Boyega. "I am very proud and happy to welcome John into a fantastic sandbox," he said. "The Pacific Rim universe will be reinforced with him as a leading man as it continues to be a multicultural, multi-layered world. 'The World saving the world' was our goal and I couldn’t think of a better man for the job."

Boyega subsequently tweeted his own confirmation of the news:

The status of Pacific Rim 2 has changed over the past few months, with various press stories and its disappearance from release schedules suggesting that the movie was far from a sure thing. It does not yet have a new release date.

However, Del Toro has always insisted that the project is moving ahead, and last month it was reported that in-demand Jurassic World writer Derek Connolly had been hired to work on the script.