“Pacific Rim 2” went ahead without star Charlie Hunnam, and many fans wondered why.
In a new interview with Collider, the actor finally explained why he didn’t star in the sequel despite leading the 2013 original.
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“Yeah. A lot of time went by between us doing [the sequel]. Certainly, when [director Guillermo del Toro] was talking about it, then yeah, definitely, I was a part of that conversation and I think that his vision for it included me,” he said. “But by the time they circled around and decided that they were gonna make it with a different director, we had a conversation about it but I was booked up. There were business elements of it that required them to go into production very quickly.”
Hunnam continued, “Legendary had just been acquired by Wanda out of China, and they wanted that film made very quickly and I wasn’t available. That’s just what happens. I didn’t deeply lament it. I’d been working in long-form storytelling for a while and we’d already done one Pacific Rim, so I felt like, ‘Go with God. Go do your thing.’ I actually haven’t seen the sequel, so I didn’t ever give myself an opportunity to really think about whether I regret that decision or not.”
In 2018, the year “Pacific Rim 2” came out, Hunnam only starred in one film, “A Million Little Pieces”. His slate was busier the next year, though, when he starred in four films, “Triple Frontier”, “True History of the Kelly Gang”, “Jungleland” and “The Gentlemen”.
“Pacific Rim 2” instead starred John Boyega, Scott Eastwood, Cailee Spaeny and more.
