The next Planet of the Apes movie takes things back to where it all started… sort of. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apesthe latest entry in 20th Century Studios’ how-are-the-Planet-of-the-Apes-movies-are-this-good franchise, picks up a new story some 300 years after the events of the last (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 beginning to question their tyrannical leaders.
That’s very similar to the setting of the original Planet of the Apesminus the space-time travel that Charlton Heston and his crew make to end up on an Earth ruled by apes.
Young chimpanzee Noa (Owen Teague) begins to question the morality of hunting humans who, at this point in the Planet of the Apes reboot timeline, live in the shadows and are afraid of apes. Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand) is the film’s bonobo ruler who wants to learn ancient human technologies, and is certainly not disappointed in Noa’s sympathetic view of primitive humans. The witcherFreya 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 films and for directing Sony Pictures and Nintendo’s live-action The Legend of Zelda film. The cast of apes and humans is completed by Peter Macon (The Orville) and William H. Macy (Fargo).
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes comes to theaters on May 10.