Last month, filmmaker Guillermo del Toro revealed that his highly-anticipated sequel Pacific Rim 2 will hit theaters on April 7, 2017, while also announcing that he is working on a Pacific Rim animated series as well. In a new interview with Collider, the filmmaker revealed that he envisions the show as bridge which connects Pacific Rim to Pacific Rim 2, while offering an exciting possibility for his upcoming feature At the Mountains of Madness.

The animated series is still in the very early stages, with the filmmaker confirming that they are meeting with Japanese animation companies and writers.

"We are right now in the middle of talking and negotiating with a few Japanese companies for the animation. We are talking to a couple of showrunners that have a strong animation background, [we're] casting the writers room. What's great is it's a great set-up and a link between the first movie and the second movie. It really enhances the mythology of the characters; we have cameos of characters from the first movie, but mostly it's a new set of characters. New jaegers, except for one or two, [and] new kaijus. It's really fun."

The filmmaker also said that the show will still be very much in the same spirit as the first movie, focusing on a younger group of jaeger pilots.

"We're going for a long arc, so the idea is to show a group of characters-we have pilots, functional jaegers, but we have all these younger characters. I really want to explore things that are complimentary to the things that I want to explore in the second movie: drift, what drifting does to you, what is needed to drift, a lot of stuff that I think is important, but also the jaeger technology, the kaijus being evolved, ideas about the precursors-the guys that control the kaijus. We have a lot of leeway in 13 episodes and I wanna make it sort of in the same spirit of Pacific Rim, which is the ideal audience for Pacific Rim was young-very young, 11-year-olds and so forth-but with really beautiful design and stories that make these characters interesting in a way that I found them interesting in, for example, Year Zero, the graphic novel that we did. And I think that's the basic thrust of the thing."

While he did say that they are envisioning a 13-episode first season for now, the hope is that it will have a much longer arc.

"If it connects we'll go on [to more seasons], but the thing is I don't want it to be weekly adventures. I don't want it to be like Chapter One is a little action thing and it gets resolved in 40 minutes or an hour and then the next episode, [it's like] nothing happened. My favorite anime series always have a long arc."

In an interview from last week, Guillermo del Toro said that he is exploring several possibilities regarding what network the Pacific Rim series may air on. The filmmaker wouldn't offer any specifics, but he did say that Legendary is talking with a few unspecified outlets.

"Legendary is talking to a few outlets so I'd rather not disclose myself. The way we set up The Strain was to talk to everyone, literally, on the map, and then find who's response we sort of jibe with the most. I think in this series, it would be great to find a place that can give it a proper presentation and can advertise the creation of the series. So we're open to being pleasantly surprised everywhere."

While the project still doesn't have an official studio home, many fans hope that Guillermo del Toro will get to make his H.P. Lovecraft adaptation At the Mountains of Madness after Pacific Rim 2 and the animated series. When asked if he would consider making two different cuts of the movie, one PG-13 and one R, the director said that he actually wants to release both versions at the same time.

"That's actually exactly what I'm thinking. The way I'm thinking is, PG-13 goes a long way. It's not that the novel is graphic, but people forget that there are crucial elements in the novel that are pretty horrific. Like the human autopsy, you know? I think that's a dark moment. So what I would like to do is shoot it, as dark as it is, in an unrated cut and a PG-13 cut. Ideally they would be released simultaneously if that's at all possible. We could release one [cut] in a certain format and the other in a different format with the hopes that we can offer more intense moments in one cut and equally intense moments but without graphic content in the other cut. Lovecraft was famous for suggestion, and a lot of the piece can suggest, but there are [certain moments] you need to show. Part of it is budget, part of it is rating. The one thing I'll say is that at this stage for me, Mountains is not made. So I'd rather make it in a way that doesn't compromise the content, or not do it. And, in the last few years, what has changed is that I've seen PG-13 films that are very intense. For me Life of Pi, the first 25 minutes of that movie were really very intense with the violence on the boat and the sinking. I came to think, "you know what? It is possible to go to places that are intense but still have a strong appeal for a rating." That, I think, is the main thing that changed."

When asked if he will actually make At the Mountains of Madness after Pacific Rim 2, the filmmaker had this to say.

"The only thing I know is that I have two studios that like the project very much, which is Universal and Legendary. Legendary came very close to financing and Universal came famously close to financing and we were very much getting there. So I think that there's a chance we're still keeping it alive. What normally happens is I have stacks and stacks of beautiful designs. I have 30, 40, 50 pieces of key art. I have maquettes. I have concept art. I have hundreds of storyboards. And of all the things that have gone undone so far, the one that I would most like to share with the world is Mountains."

Are you excited for Guillermo del Toro's plans regarding Pacific Rim 2, the Pacific Rim animated series and At the Mountains of Madness? Chime in with your thoughts below.