Back in June, Pacific Rim director Guillermo del Toro announced that Pacific Rim 2 is moving forward, with Warner Bros. handing out an April 3, 2017 release date, along with an animated TV series that will bridge the gap between the first two movies. While promoting his animated adventure The Book of Life, the filmmaker revealed that he is actually planning on making Pacific Rim 3, with certain characters appearing at the end of Pacific Rim 2 that will lead into the third installment.

Here's what he had to say in a recent interview, where he confirmed that a first draft of the Pacific Rim 2 script is complete.

"We got the first draft of the movie now, and we are going to spend another 4-5 months on the screenplay before we start pre-production. We start pre-production next year in August-September and start shooting November-December next year. The direction we're going in is very different from the first. All I can say is some of your favorite characters come back, some others don't because we have decided that we're going to shoot ambitiously and say 'Let's hope we have three movies,' so some characters come in at the end of the second, hoping that it will ramp up on the third one. I hope people like it, but you're going to get a very different experience from the first one."

The director said in June that Pacific Rim characters Raleigh (Charlie Hunnam), Mako (Rinko Kikuchi), Newt (Charlie Day), Gottlieb (Burn Gorman) and possibly Hannibal (Ron Perlman) will be back for Pacific Rim 2. However, it's possible that he may be holding some of these characters back for the third installment.

Are you excited that Pacific Rim is now being envisioned as a trilogy? Chime in with your thoughts below.