While the ostentatiously named Jaeger mechs of the Pacific Rim franchise are front-and-center in the film’s trailers, the series lives and dies by its charismatic human characters, who have won the hearts and minds of fans all over the world. From the odd couple pairing of Dr. Newton Geiszler and Dr. Hermann Gottlieb to the bo staff badassery of Mako Mori to the stone-jawed apocalypse-cancelling stoicism of Stacker Pentecost, Pacific Rim has no shortage of fan-favorite heroes. Now with Pacific Rim: Uprising poised to hit theaters on March 23, audiences will meet a new generation of Jaeger-piloting protagonists who bring their unique skillsets to help the next generation of Pan Pacific Defense Corp beat those killer Kaiju back into the Breach. However, there’s one character in particular that we think will reign supreme as your new favorite member of the PPDC: Amara Namani.
Played by relative newcomer Cailee Spaeny, Amara is a self-taught engineer, who is spunky, sarcastic, and smarter than most adults. Serving as an unlikely sidekick to Jake Pentecost (John Boyega), Amara may well be exactly what humanity needs if they’re going to win the day. While she doesn’t have the formal training of some of her fellow PPDC recruits, she did manage to make her own Jaeger from scratch using scrap metal and parts that she scavenged. We’re not the only ones who think that Amara is going to leave audiences wanting more of the precocious cadet; the filmmakers behind Pacific Rim Uprising do too. We sent our ace reporter Erika Ishii to sit down with stars Cailee Spaeny, John Boyega (who was also a producer on the film), and writer-director Steven S. DeKnight to talk about why Amara resonated with them, how she subverts your expectations, and much more.
Editor’s note: Nerdist is a subsidiary of Legendary Entertainment.
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