John Boyega was one of the breakout stars of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and now the creators of another franchise are hoping he'll bring that same charisma and energy to fighting giant monsters. Deadline reports that Boyega has signed on to star in Pacific Rim 2, the sequel to Guillermo del Toro's 2013 monster movie that's scheduled to start production later this year under the direction of Steven S. DeKnight (Daredevil, Dollhouse).

"I am very proud and happy to welcome John into a fantastic sandbox," del Toro said in a statement. "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."

Jumping from Jedis to Jaegers

The original Pacific Rim centered around humanity's fight against Kaiju — giant creatures inspired by the Japanese movie genre of the same name. To fight against the beasts, humans used massive robots called Jaegers, which essentially turned the movie into a robots vs. lizards rock' em, sock 'em match. But while the film cost nearly $200 million, it underperformed domestically, bringing in only half that at the US box office. Where Pacific Rim earned a sequel was in its international performance, with the movie bringing in an additional $309 million overseas.

Should Pacific Rim 2 take off, Boyega could theoretically find himself starring in two ongoing franchises, with Star Wars: Episode IX not scheduled for release until 2019. Unless Finn gets killed off or something, but they'd never do that. Or would they?

How filmmakers use color to manipulate our emotions