Legendary Entertainment announced today that Chinese action film star Zhang Jin will join the cast of sci-fi sequel Pacific Rim: Maelstrom. The film, which also stars John Noyega, Scott Eastwood and Cailee Spaeny, has also locked a slew of other hot Chinese actors including Jing Tian (soon to be seen in both The Great Wall and Kong: Skull Island), Wesley Wong (Transformers 4), Lily Ji, Chen Zitong, Lan Yingying and Qian Yongchen with cameos by Xiao Yang and Korean actor Kim Jeong-Hoon.
Pacific Rim: Maelstrom is being directed by Steven S. DeKnight (Marvel’s Daredevil) and is based on the universe first created by genre film culture innovator Guillermo del Toro and Travis Beacham in the 2013 blockbuster Pacific Rim. Thomas Tull, Mary Parent, Jon Jashni, and del Toro are producing the action adventure film along with Boyega and Femi Oguns under their Upper Room Productions shingle. Cale Boyter and Eric McLeod serve as the film’s executive producers.
In 2013, Zhang Jin won thee award for Best Supporting Actor at the 33rd Hong Kong Film Awards for The Grandmaster and was nominated twice as Best Supporting Actor at this year’s 35th Hong Kong Film Awards for IP Man 3 and Kill Zone 2 (pictured above). He began his career as a stunt actor and was Zhang Ziyi’s stunt double in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
Pacific Rim: Maelstrom is set for release on February 23rd, 2018.