Pacific Rim Uprising Photos Reveal New Jaegers

The monstrous Kaiju from Pacific Rim are back and better than ever, which means mankind will need to make some upgrades.

Entertainment Weekly has photos from the sequel Pacific Rim Uprising, and they show the new mechanized Jaegers that will take on the revitalized enemies a decade after the events of the 2013 original. 

John Boyega (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) stars as Jake Pentecost, the estranged son of Stacker Pentecost, Idris Elba's character in the first film. Although Stacker is no longer around, Jake eventually follows in his dad's massive footsteps. 

"Jake is the prodigal son," Boyega said. "He is a young guy who was on the cusp of greatness in his early days when he was training to be a Jaeger pilot, but he always had a troubled relationship with Stacker. I'm the son he didn't really talk about in the first film... the product of Stacker's first love."

However, things became strained when Stacker put all of his faith in Mako (Rinko Kikuchi), the Jaeger pilot who helped save the planet last time. "[Jake] felt he never lived up to his father's expectations and so he decided to leave the Jaeger program and start stealing for a living," Boyega said.

America is a a very different place after the attack in the first movie. Since the monsters come from the sea, the wealthy have moved to Middle America, leaving the poor to populate the coasts. But those left to defend themselves begin to build their own Jaegers, and Jake is forced to join a program to teach pilots what he knows. 

"The Kaiju have found a new way," Boyega said. "They are way more intelligent than we thought they were. The monsters you saw in the first movie were the test run, to see how the planet would hold up. The breach we thought was closed is not their only way into our world. Their plans are more specific. Jake leads the team in trying to build up a new defense against that."

He'll co-pilot the state-of-the-art Gipsy Avenger along with his old friend Lambert (Scott Eastwood). "She's an upgrade model from Gipsy Danger in the first movie," Boyega said. "She is still a two-man Jaeger and has new weapons and technology. The new Gipsy has LCD screens and holographic imagery of what is going outside. Her gravity sling has improved... Gipsy Avenger is [the] strongest and hardest to operate."

Other new Jaegers include Saber Athena. "She's the fastest Jaeger, and she is agile and assigned two skillful pilots who know how to do martial arts," Boyega said. "She has two swords she can join together to slice stuff down. She's flexible and very fast."

There's also Guardian Bravo, who has "big electric whips, but is very stocky and strong," and Bracer Phoenix. "She is a mystery rogue Jaeger, but is really strong and advanced," Boyega said. "She has guns on the chest. That Jaeger is, in fact, a three-man rig—one is in the cockpit shooting missiles and bullets from the chest."

Check out photos of the new Jaegers below and brace for Pacific Rim Uprising, which hits theaters March 23, 2018.