AceShowbiz -

The follow-up to this year's "Pacific Rim" may take a look back at events before the first film. In an interview with Empire Online, Max Martini, who plays Herc Hansen, hints that the second installment of the sci-fi film franchise could be a prequel.

"It's funny, I fell in love with this character," he says when asked what would he like to see Herc doing. "The key component was this relationship I had with my son, exploring the dysfunction and the loss, so where does Herc go from here? I don't know."

He continues, "It'll be interesting to see where Guillermo (del Toro) and Travis Beacham take it. I don't know if it's a prequel or a sequel, but if it's a prequel you'll learn more about Herc's family history. But Guillermo has such a vivid imagination, it could go anywhere."

del Toro, who directed the first movie, is currently working on the screenplay for the untitled Pacific Rim sequel with Beacham, who also co-wrote the first movie. He once said he's in no rush to make the second film.

"We want to take however long it takes to really find out the idea and try to bridge something that really makes the mythology roll," he said back in February before the first film was even released, adding, "The great thing about Legendary is they're willing to take it to completion in the right way. They're giving us the leeway."

Opening in theaters nationwide last summer, the monster pic starring Charlie Hunnam and Idris Elba received generally positive reviews from critics. It raked in $101,802,906 in North America and performed better internationally, grossing $407,602,906 worldwide.