This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the franchise being covered here wouldn’t exist.
The monsters are coming… but the monsters were already here. The first teaser for Apple TV’s Monarch: Legacy of Monsters hints at a decade-spanning story of cover-ups, redacted documents, men trying to make up for their past mistakes, and just some really, impeccably cool kaiju-related graphics, unexpectedly? Actually, everything here looks pretty cool.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters comes from Chris Black (Severance) and Matt Fraction (Hawkeye), which is already enough reason to watch it. The first two episodes are directed by WandaVision‘s Matt Shakman, and the cast includes Kurt and Wyatt Russell (playing the same character), Anna Sawai (Pachinko), Kiersey Clemons (The Flash), Joe Tippett (Mare of Easttown), Elisa Lasowski, Ren Watabe, Mari Yamamoto, and Anders Holm. This teaser also confirms that a key character from Kong: Skull Island is (was?) involved: John Goodman’s Bill Randa! John Goodman is always a welcome sight.
A new look at the series doesn’t mean a new synopsis, alas; Apple TV is sticking with this:
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.
The show is part of Legendary Entertainment’s Monsterverse, which began with 2014’s Godzilla and continues to expand with this series and next year’s Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. This year’s Godzilla Minus One is entirely unrelated, despite the presence of rampaging monsters. (Toho, which owns the rights to Godzilla, licenses the big fella to Legendary.)
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters premieres Friday, November 17th, with the rest of its 10 episodes airing weekly.
