Godzilla's live-action Apple TV Plus series has been given an official title – and a batch of first-look images for the anticipated sci-fi action-adventure show.
Known as Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, the forthcoming Apple TV Plus show will see the iconic kaiju debut in a live-action, US-developed TV series for the first time in the titanic creature's storied history. No release date was revealed alongside the official title announcement, but Apple has released four first-look images for the project, which you can view in the gallery below:
The 10-episode series also received an official plot synopsis, which gives us our first insight into when Monarch: Legacy of Monsters takes place and what its story will entail. For the former, it seems events in Apple's Godzilla TV show will follow those from 2014's Godzilla film and predate what happened in 2019's Godzilla: King of the Monsters flick.
"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," the synopsis reads.
"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."
In the wake of G-Day, who are the real monsters? pic.twitter.com/hncAc2lcaCAugust 17, 2023
Joining the Russells as main and/or supporting characters are Anna Sawai (F9, Pachinko), Kiersey Clemons (The Flash), Ren Watabe (461 Lunch Boxes), Mari Yamamoto (Pachinko, Tokyo Vice), Anders Holm (The Mindy Project), Joe Tippett (The Morning Show), and Elisa Lasowski (Game of Thrones).
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters has been co-developed by Chris Black, who penned episode 8 of Severance season 1, and Matt Fraction, the Marvel comic book writer who's created some of the best comic books in recent memory, including the series that Hawkeye's MCU TV series is based on. Further tying Godzilla's Apple TV Plus series to Marvel Studios – Kurt Russell appears in Guardians of the Galaxy 2, while Wyatt starred in Falcon and the Winter Solider – is Matt Shakman, the director of WandaVision. Shakman directed the first two episodes of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.
Black, Fraction, and Shakman are also among the series' stacked executive-producing team, which includes Joby Harold (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Brad Van Arragon (Yellowjackets), and Andrew Colville (Star Trek: Discovery). Hiro Matsuoka and Takemasa Arita of Toho – the Japanese entertainment firm that created Godzilla – are also on board as executive producers.
Will Monarch: Legacy of Monsters be one of the best Apple TV Plus shows when it arrives? We hope so. It's got a bit *ahem* legacy to uphold to do so, though, with Legendary Pictures' four Monsterverse films earning over $2 billion combined globally since 2014. Hopefully, it won't be long before an official launch date and trailer are dropped on our doorsteps, too.
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