Actor Charlie Hunnam said in an interview with Yahoo! Movies on Monday that he will not appear in Pacific Rim 2 , the planned sequel to Guillermo del Toro and Travis Beacham's 2013 science-fiction robot film. He mentioned that there was an early draft of the script that heavily featured him, but the film's schedule was constricted due to "politics and business surrounding filmmaking." His schedule conflicted with the film's, and thus he was not available.

Charlie Hunnam played protagonist Raleigh Beckett in the first film.

The sequel film will debut in theaters on February 23, 2018.

Steven S. DeKnight, showrunner and director on Netflix's Daredevil series, will direct the film. Thomas Tull, Jon Jashni, Mary Parent, and del Toro are credited as producers, and Jillian Share is credited as executive producer for the film. Jon Spaihts wrote the current script attached to the film, and Jurassic World writer Derek Connolly is also on the production team for the film. Universal Pictures will release the film in 3D worldwide.

John Boyega ( Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Finn) will play the lead role in the film as the son of Idris Elba's Stacker Pentecost character from the first film. Suicide Squad actor Scott Eastwood is reportedly in early talks to join the film.

Thanks to Daniel Zelter for the news tip

[Via Dark Horizons]