Guillermo del Toro stepped down as director in order to direct The Shape of Water (2017) instead, which went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.
In a interview with Collider in November 2014, Guillermo del Toro talked about setting the stage for Pacific Rim 2 (2017), stating, "It's a few years after the first one. It's not an immediate follow-up. It is the world having been freed of Kaiju, what happens to the world after -- what happens to the Jaeger technology once the Kaiju are not a threat. It's quite a jump." del Toro did not return to direct Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018).
During an interview with Collider in November 2014, Guillermo del Toro stated that Charlie Day's character, Dr. Newton Geiszler, and Burn Gorman's character, Gottlieb, are in the sequel with the respective actors (Day and Gorman) reprising their roles from Pacific Rim (2013) for the sequel. del Toro commented on it, stating, "Yes. It's quite a different movie from the first one in that, but I think that two of our main characters like in the first one are Burn and Charlie. They are really, really -- I mean, honestly, they are probably the guys I have the most fun writing, along with Hannibal Chau, so just from a purely selfish drive, I like writing them. I love writing for Charlie and Burn. I mean, [Hunnam] in Crimson Peak (2015) for that reason, because I love working with him."
Bracer Phoenix was just the second Mark-5 Jaeger, with the first being Striker Eureka. All of the other Jaegers, (Gipsy Avenger, Saber Athena, Titan Redeemer, Guardian Bravo) are Mark-6's.
Guillermo del Toro did not return to direct the sequel. However, he did produce and write the story for the movie.