10 Major Movie Characters Given Nothing To Do In The Sequel

Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi) was easily one of the most popular characters in the first Pacific Rim, certainly more so than protagonist Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam), who didn't appear in this sequel due to scheduling conflicts.

And so, it seemed like a given that Mako would become the new lead, only for the reins to instead be handed to an entirely new character, Jake Pentecost (John Boyega).

Mako did show up for a few scant minutes in Pacific Rim Uprising, though, briefly meeting with Jake before being unexpectedly assassinated when her chopper is knocked out of the sky by a rogue Jaeger, Obsidian Fury.

It was a cheap, embarrassing death for a beloved character, enough that many fans simply wished Mako didn't appear in the film at all rather than get such a perfunctory, unceremonious demise.

Hell, even writer-director Steven S. DeKnight admitted that Mako's death didn't really work, and with Uprising's box office failure effectively ending the cinematic franchise, some fans have banished the film from their "headcanon" and still insist that Mako never died.