In addition to just being a fun time at the movies, Pacific Rim showed the power of international box office. The movie made over three times as much internationally as it did domestically, and that was good enough to get Legendary Pictures to greenlight a sequel. Speaking to director and co-writer Guillermo Del Toro for his new movie The Book of Life—on which he served as a producer—he told us, “We got the first draft of the movie now, and we are going to spend another 4-5 months on the screenplay before we start pre-production. We start pre-production next year in August-September and start shooting November-December next year.”

He’s also got big plans for the franchise. In addition to the animated series leading up to Pacific Rim 2, the sequel will not only be radically different that the first movie, but it will also attempt to lead into Pacific Rim 3. Hit the jump for more. Pacific Rim 2 is set for release on April 7, 2017.

With regards to Pacific Rim 2, Del Toro reiterated how the sequel will be a different experience, and expanded to say:

“some of your favorite characters come back, some others don’t because we have decided that we’re going to shoot ambitiously and say ‘Let’s hope we have three movies,’ so some characters come in at the end of the second, hoping that it will ramp up on the third one.”

I’m crossing my fingers that when it comes to returning characters, we’re getting more Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi) and less Raleigh Beckett (Charlie Hunnam).

But the greater reveal is that Del Toro is going all in and trying to get to Pacific Rim 3, and presumably that means Pacific Rim 2 will end in a cliffhanger of sorts. Hopefully that works better than his last attempt at a third installment since we’ll never see Hellboy 3.

Nevertheless, I’m excited about Del Toro’s ambition, and if the international audience can boost Pacific Rim to Pacific Rim 2, then perhaps they can get Pacific Rim 2 to Pacific Rim 3 even if they’re, “going to get a very different experience from the first one.”

Here’s the video of Del Toro talking about the Pacific Rim sequels. Look for the full interview soon.