Planet of the Apes: the new trilogy will take place 300 years later

Wes Ball promised to respect Caesar’s legacy. This will be the case, but several centuries after its history!

Planet of the Apes 4titled The New Kingdom (Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes), will be released in theaters on May 22, 2024. Directed by Wes Ball (The labyrinth), still from a screenplay by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, it is now carried by Owen Teague (That, chapter 2), who succeeds Andy Serkis in the lead role in performance capture. It is no longer about Caesar, the ape becoming the leader of the first trilogy, but about a certain Noa, whose journey takes place approximately 300 years after the end of those previously told. At his side, Kevin Durand (Locke and Key) or Freya Allan (The Witcher) will also be there.

If the official synopsis of this sequel, supposed to launch a new saga, is quite vague (“Apes have become the dominant species living in harmony and humans have been reduced to living in the shadows. As a tyrannical new ape leader builds his empire, a young ape embarks on a harrowing journey that will lead him to question everything he knows about the past and make choices that will define the future for apes and humans alike.), Empire gives some precise details in its special 2023 review issue and “preview 2024”. Beware of spoilerss: the comments shared below speak openly about key elements of the trilogy Planet of the Apes The Beginning (2011), The confrontation (2014) and Supremacy (2017).

At the end of the final opus of the trilogy, Caesar disappeared having succeeded in offering his people a better life, freer and far from men. Having become the undisputed leader of the apes, he will however no longer be in this sequel, which will take place three centuries after his exploits. His qualities as a leader will logically have been somewhat forgotten over time. “Noa has no idea who he was, explains Teague. Part of his trip will also be to discover Caesar’s legacy and the different interpretations that can be drawn from it. Noa will have to find meaning in what he did.”

Facing him, a certain Proxima César (played by Durand) will be the new leader of the monkeys. We see it for a moment in the film teaserwith a crown on his head, and he is on the cover of the issue in question of the British film magazine. “Caesar was almost a religious figure, explains the actor, and Proximus took his name again because he knows that it denotes the highest position in ape society. It is a self-proclamation, and if at the time, Caesar made his choices to ensure that his people would continue to evolve, we will see here that the influence of what he left is not only positive. As in human history, there are always some kind of tyrants who show up and scare everyone to ensure that they are followed.”

Wes Ball reassures fans about his vision for Planet of the Apes

More generally, Wes Ball, who had already promised not to reboot the films of Rupert Wyatt and Matt Reeves, but to “respect Caesar’s legacy” explains having thought about this from the start “New Kingdom” like the start of a new trilogy.

“We have these big ideas that we want to develop while making sure to respect the legacy of these films. I am already talking about the next story with the studio, even if I also want to direct other projects (it is attached to a live version of Zeldafor example, editor’s note). These last three films in the saga were about the end of something. It was a sort of rereading of Moses, on the end of humanity. We thought : ‘From the ashes of previous films, we will build something new.’ This film will therefore be more of the start of something.”

Here is the trailer for Planet of the Apes – The New World :

Planet of the Apes – Supremacy, the final battle (review)