New Godzilla Show Breaks A Rotten Tomatoes Record For The Monsterverse

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters has broken a Monsterverse Rotten Tomatoes record. The new show is the sixth overall entry in the franchise, which has expanded to include four movies and two television shows after debuting with the 2014 movie Godzilla. Monarch, which explores the secrets of the titular secretive research organization on two different timelines, stars father and son Kurt and Wyatt Russell alongside Anna Sawai, Kiersey Clemons, Ren Watabe, Mari Yamamoto, Anders Holm, and Joe Tippett.

After aggregating a 90% score for Monarch: Legacy of Monsters season 1 off of 29 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes has determined the season to be officially Certified Fresh. This makes it the fourth of six titles in the Monsterverse to be Certified Fresh, as the only ones that haven’t are 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters and the 2023 animated show Skull Island. Monarch also boasts the highest Rotten Tomatoes score of the entire franchise, a full 8% higher than the second-place title, Skull Island, which has 82%.

How Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Compares to the Rest of the MonsterVerse

While Monarch: Legacy of Monsters boasts the best score of the entire Monsterverse franchise, the movies and television shows have a rather consistent track record of Fresh Rotten Tomatoes scores. In fact, the only Rotten entry at the time of writing is Godzilla‘s 2019 sequel Godzilla: King of the Monsters, which earned a 42% score. Check out a comparison of the Monsterverse Rotten Tomatoes scores below:

While Monarch‘s score is a massive achievement, there are some factors that complicate its score relative to the previous movies in the franchise. Rotten Tomatoes typically aggregates fewer reviews for television titles than theatrical releases, as was the case with this franchise. The Godzilla and Kong movies were all scored off of more than 300 reviews apiece, making their scores much more statistically significant thanks to increased data.

This means that Monarch: Legacy of Monsters‘ strong critic score may not necessarily mean that mass audiences will respond to the show more positively than previous Monsterverse titles. However, the intriguing cast (which includes the Russells playing the same character many years apart) combined with the return of Godzilla and the inclusion of other major monsters, could help propel the audience to a similar level of enthusiasm. The show should also provide further insight into the Monsterverse timeline, which could intrigue die-hard fans.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters debuts on Apple TV+ on November 17.