The next Planet of the Apes movie is taking things back to where it all started… sort of. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, the latest entry in 20th Century Studios’ how-are-the-Planet-of-the-Apes-movies-this-good franchise, starts a new story, some 300 years after the events of the last one (War for the Planet of the Apes, that is). At this point in the Apesverse, apes are the dominant species, humans have gone feral, and some apes are starting to question their tyrannical leaders.
That’s a lot like the setting of the original Planet of the Apes, minus the space-time travel that Charlton Heston and crew do to wind up on an ape-controlled Earth.
Young chimpanzee Noa (Owen Teague) starts to question the morality of hunting human beings who, at this point in the Planet of the Apes reboot timeline, live in the shadows and in fear of apes. Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand) is the film’s bonobo ruler who wants to learn ancient human technologies, and is certainly not down with Noa’s sympathetic view of primitive humans. The Witcher’s Freya Allan is Mae, a human who appears to have a higher level of intelligence than other humans, at least from Caesar’s perspective.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is directed by Wes Ball, known for his work on the Maze Runner movies and attached to direct Sony Pictures and Nintendo’s live-action The Legend of Zelda movie. Rounding out the cast of apes and humans are Peter Macon (The Orville) and William H. Macy (Fargo).
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is coming to movie theaters on May 10.
