Editorial Staff
Today, Apple TV+ announced the title of its highly anticipated sci-fi drama based on Legendary’s Monsterverse as “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters,” and unveiled the first images from the 10-episode series starring Kurt Russell and son Wyatt Russell.
It’s shaping up to be quite the twelve months for the older Russell in particular, as he films a pivotal role opposite Matthew McConaughey in the new thriller The Rivals of Amziah King (read Moviehole’s exclusive here), and is reportedly set to reprise his role as Snake Plissken in Radio Silence’s Escape from New York sequel.
Anna Sawai, Kiersey Clemons, Ren Watabe, Mari Yamamoto, Anders Holm, Joe Tippett and Elisa Lasowski are also aboard “Monarch”.
Following the thunderous battle between Godzilla and the Titans that leveled San Francisco and the shocking revelation that monsters are real, “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” tracks two siblings following in their father’s footsteps to uncover their family’s connection to the secretive organization known as Monarch. Clues lead them into the world of monsters and ultimately down the rabbit hole to Army officer Lee Shaw (played by Kurt Russell and Wyatt Russell), taking place in the 1950s and half a century later where Monarch is threatened by what Shaw knows. The dramatic saga – spanning three generations – reveals buried secrets and the ways that epic, earth-shattering events can reverberate through our lives.
“Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” is co-developed by Chris Black (“Severance,” “Star Trek: Enterprise,” “Outcast,”) and Matt Fraction (“Hawkeye”). Matt Shakman (“Wandavision”) directs the first two episodes.
Hailing from Legendary Television, the series is executive produced by Black, Fraction and Shakman alongside Joby Harold (“Obi-Wan Kenobi,” “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts”) and Tory Tunnell (“Spinning Out,” “Underground”) from Safehouse Pictures, Matt Shakman (“Wandavision”), Andy Goddard (“Carnival Row, “Downton Abbey”), Brad Van Arragon (“Yellowjackets, “Carnival Row”), and Andrew Colville (“Severance,” “Star Trek: Discovery”). Hiro Matsuoka and Takemasa Arita executive produce on behalf of Toho Co., Ltd., the owner of the Godzilla character. Toho licensed the rights to Legendary for “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” as a natural byproduct of their long-term relationship with the film franchise.
Legendary Entertainment’s Monsterverse is an epic entertainment universe of interconnected stories that bring together popular culture’s most titanic forces of nature. Witness humanity’s greatest battle for survival as we fight for our world in the face of a catastrophic new reality – the monsters of our myths and legends are real. Beginning in 2014 with Godzilla and continuing with 2017’s “Kong: Skull Island,” 2019’s “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” and 2021’s “Godzilla vs. Kong,” the Monsterverse has accumulated close to two billion dollars globally at the box office and is ever-expanding, with the highly anticipated sequel “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.”
