Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, the most overlooked tentacle? of Legendary’s onscreen Monsterverse, is coming back to us next year and it’s bringing King Kong with it.
The Apple TV series, a more grounded, human-focused series than some of its big-screen siblings, digs into the secret origins of Monarch, while it also shows the larger human population’s side of the living in a world where kaiju roam. The first season of the series, which was told in a dual timeline format, followed a pair of siblings who tried to uncover their family’s unique connection to the mysterious organization. Their search took them into a world of monsters and they became the characters whose destinies were linked with that of the mysterious Army officer Lee Shaw Kurt Russell in the present day, and his son Wyatt in a series of 1950s flashbacks.
The first season ended with the old Shaw sacrificing himself to save the rest of the team and fleeing the Hollow Earth via a dimensional portal. Just go with it, it makes sense in context. But this portal is not taking the characters back to their present day; instead, it is dropping them off at Skull Island in 2017, that is, two years before the arrival of Ghidorah in the film Godzilla: King of the Monsters, and where, as all good movie watchers know, King Kong is the one who is boss.
Kong’s addition to Monarch season 2 kaiju lineup is not quite a surprise season 1 ended with a dramatic shot of the giant simian however, the new teaser suggests that he will definitely be playing a major role in the coming events, probably much in the same way as Godzilla was an overarching presence throughout season 1 in both present-day and flashback form. The show’s use of two different timelines for the story also opens up lots of possibilities for the show to delve into the incidents leading up to Bill Randa’s Anders Holm decision to visit Skull Island in the 1970s.
According to Apple’s press release, season 2 will “bring back the heroes and villains on Kong’s Skull Island, and a new, mysterious village where a mythical Titan rises from the sea.” I guess that is the tentacled monster we see briefly in the trailer. The streaming service also made it clear that Kurt Russell will be back as the elder Lee Shaw, even if his character seems to have died on the screen. In a world where giant kaiju exist, no one is ever really gone for good. Or at least we don’t see an actual body.
Besides that, the cast of characters who will be back includes the likes of Wyatt Russell, Anna Sawai, Kiersey Clemons, Ren Watabe, Mari Yamamoto, and Joe Tippet. Alongside them is a series newcomer — Prey star — Amber Midthunder. Godzilla is not mentioned as one of the characters, but I think it is obvious that this show cannot go on without our beloved giant lizard. What about other kaiju coming up? Let me tell you, I am only hoping for that. I am still waiting for my Mothra origin story, guys.
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