Finally, We’re Getting A Real PLANET Of The Apes

After the wildly successful yet human-focused reboot series of the 2010s, the ongoing Planet of the Apes franchise is finally showing audiences a true planet of the apes in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. Beginning with 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the Planet of the Apes reboot trilogy brought the franchise to the modern day and examined the origins of the increased ape intelligence that defined the original movies. By the time the trilogy concluded with 2017’s War for the Planet of the Apes, humanity was on a path toward the near-feral state first seen in the original 1968 Planet of the Apes.

However, in exploring that transition phase of the two dominant species, the reboot trilogy never showed a world in which humans were completely dominated by apes, which is the core tenet of the franchise. The plot of each of the three films still relied heavily on the apes’ relationship and conflict with the remaining humans, and for most of the trilogy’s runtime, the apes were still technologically inferior, even if they had already built a functional society. The setting of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes sees the franchise jump forward in time and will finally showcase a world in which apes are now the dominant species.

Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes Finally Shows A Real Planet Of The Apes

The apes now rule the Earth

The teaser trailer for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes brings the franchise much closer to the original movie’s setup, where apes are the dominant species and humanity has devolved to the point that they are almost like cattle. The trailer even includes a callback to one of the most famous scenes from the original movie, in which apes on horseback hunt and trap fleeing humans.

Given the significant time jump, major changes will have occurred in the power dynamic on the planet. There are now multiple complex ape civilizations in existence, but humans have moved closer to the wild, hunter-gatherer version of the species seen in Planet of the Apes. Whereas humans acted as the primary antagonists to apes throughout the reboot trilogy, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes will introduce villainous apes who do not align with the teachings of Caesar. It will truly be a planet dominated by apes from this point forward in the franchise.

What An Actual Planet Of The Apes Means For The 4th Movie (& Beyond)

What about the humans?

As the franchise’s new timeline hurtles toward the point in time depicted in Planet of the Apes, it will certainly need to keep the human perspective in the fold. While Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes may not revive original Planet of the Apes hero George Taylor, it appears to be creating a similar relationship between a human and a sympathetic ape. The Witcher‘s Freya Allen plays Mae, a young human girl who will presumably join the lead ape, Noa, on his journey in the movie. They will likely be allies against the tyrannical ape Proximus Caesar, who seeks to enslave humans and apes alike.

The new trilogy is really an examination of Caesar’s legacy, including apes like Noa who in theory still follow Caesar’s teachings and apes like the villainous Proximus Caesar who either pervert or ignore his guidance entirely. While humans will always play a role in the story, it makes sense for the new trilogy to focus primarily on the ape characters as they now build upon the world that they dominate. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes will show how ape civilization has already begun to imitate some of the worst of humanity, and the next two movies can further focus on that progression.