Legendary Pictures has announced that Chinese actress Jing Tian has joined the cast of the next installment in the Pacific Rim franchise. Tian has appeared in a bunch of Chinese films like Special ID, Police Story: Lockdown and Dragon Nest: Warriors’ Dawn, and will soon appear in The Great Wall and Kong: Skull Island, both of which were also produced by Legendary. Hit the jump to learn more about the Jing Tian Pacific Rim 2 casting.



Tian will star alongside John Boyega, Scott Eastwood and Cailee Spaeny in the next installment of its Pacific Rim franchise which has yet to be titled. The film begins production this November in Australia, with principal photography also taking place in China. The film will be directed by Steven S. DeKnight based on the world created by Guillermo del Toro and Travis Beacham. Thomas Tull, Mary Parent, Jon Jashni, and del Toro will produce the action adventure film along with Boyega and Femi Oguns under their Upper Room Productions shingle. Cale Boyter will serve as the movie’s executive producer.

Jing Tian’s starring credits include the Chinese films New Police Story with Jackie Chan and Special ID with Donnie Yen. She can next be seen in The Great Wall opposite Matt Damon and as part of the ensemble cast of Kong: Skull Island slated for a 2017 release.

No word on what role she will be playing in this sequel. I have not seen Jing Tian in a movie yet, so I have no right in assessing her placement in this sequel. The cynical part of me says that Legendary needed a Chinese actress to fill their Chinese production deal. On the other hand, I loved how diverse and global the original Pacific Rim was, and I don’t think it would be right to assume that Tian’s casting is just to fulfill a quota required to take advantage of the lucrative Chinese box office.

Pacific Rim 2 is set to be released on February 23rd, 2018 by Universal Pictures around the world with the exception of China, where Legendary will distribute directly alongside its parent company Wanda.