Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (TV 2023-2024)
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SPOILER WARNING: This article may contain major plot and/or ending details. Proceed at your own discretion. |
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Some secrets cannot be contained
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— Tagline |
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (モナーク：レガシー・オブ・モンスターズ Monāku: Regashī obu Monsutāzu) is a 2023 science fiction monster television series developed, co-written, and showran by Chris Black and Matt Fraction. Produced by Legendary Television in collaboration with Safehouse Pictures and Toho, its first season premiered exclusively on the Apple TV+ streaming service on November 17, 2023 and will air weekly thereafter until January 12, 2024. A second season is also in development for a 2024-2025 release.[2] The series is the second to be set in the Monsterverse, after Netflix's animated series Skull Island which released earlier in 2023. It stars Anna Sawai, Kiersey Clemons, Ren Watabe, Mari Yamamoto, Anders Holm, Joe Tippett, and father-son duo Kurt and Wyatt Russell.
The series features two parallel storylines. The first, set in 2015 between the events of Godzilla (2014) and Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), follows Japanese-American Cate Randa, a survivor of Godzilla's attack on San Francisco, as she searches for answers about her mysterious father, finding herself entangled with the titular organization Monarch in the process. The second is set in the past over the course of the 1950s, and follows Monarch operatives Bill and Keiko Randa and Army Lieutenant Lee Shaw as they make a series of discoveries about Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms.
Descriptions
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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.[5]
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After surviving Godzilla’s attack on San Francisco, Cate is shaken yet again by a shocking secret. Amid monstrous threats, she embarks on a globetrotting adventure to learn the truth about her family—and the mysterious organization known as Monarch.[3]
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Episodes
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by[2] | Air date | ||
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| 1 | "Aftermath" | Matt Shakman | Chris Black | November 17, 2023 | ||
| Cate travels to Japan to get answers about her father and uncovers a shocking secret. Keiko, Lee, and Billy pursue a theory about Titans. | ||||||
| 2 | "Departure" | Matt Shakman | Chris Black | November 17, 2023 | ||
| Monarch closes in on Cate, Kentaro, and May as they try to track down a key individual. Keiko, Lee, and Billy stumble on a major find. | ||||||
| 3 | "Secrets and Lies" | Julian Holmes | Andrew Colville | November 22, 2023 | ||
| Shaw leads the team on a dangerous mission to Alaska in search of Hiroshi. Keiko, Lee, and Billy present their findings to General Puckett. | ||||||
| 4 | "Parallels and Interiors" | Julian Holmes | Milla Bell-Hart | December 1, 2023 | ||
| The team is left stranded in the frozen tundra after a narrow escape. Kentaro reflects on his relationships. | ||||||
| 5 | "The Way Out" | TBA | Amanda Overton | December 8, 2023 | ||
| Cate's painful memories of G-Day come flooding back as she treks through the ruins of San Francisco with Kentaro and May. | ||||||
| 6 | TBA | TBA | Karl Greenfeld | TBA | ||
| 7 | TBA | TBA | Mariko Tamaki | TBA | ||
| 8 | TBA | TBA | Al Letson | TBA | ||
| 9 | TBA | TBA | Matt Fraction | TBA | ||
| 10 | TBA | TBA | Chris Black | January 12, 2024[1] | ||
Staff
Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.
- Directed by Matt Shakman, Julian Holmes, Mairzee Almas, Hiromi Kamata, Andy Goddard[6]
- Developed by Chris Black, Matt Fraction
- Written by Chris Black, Andrew Colville, Milla Bell-Hart, Amanda Overton, Karl Greenfeld, Mariko Tamaki, Al Letson, Matt Fraction[2]
- Staff writer Mariko Tamaki
- Executive producers Thomas Tull, Hiro Matsuoka, Takemasa Arita, Max Borenstein, Brad Van Arragon, Andy Goddard, Andrew Colville, Matt Fraction, Matt Shakman, Tory Tunnell, Joby Harold, Chris Black
- Co-executive producers Amanda Overton, Milla Bell-Hart, Matt Schwartz
- Supervising producer Karl Greenfeld
- Produced by Brian Rogers, Yoshimitsu Banno, Kenji Okuhira, Scott Schofield, Al Letson
- Associate producer Caroline Stack
- Consulting producers Michael Dougherty, Zach Shields, Bob Ducsay
- Visual effects producer Jessica Smith
- Music by Leopold Ross
- Cinematography by Jess Hall, Jean-Philippe Gossart
- Edited by Nona Khodai, Emily Streetz
- Production design by Caroline Hanania
- 1st assistant directors Jim Brebner, Dan Miller
- Visual effects supervisor Sean Konrad
Cast
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Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.
Japanese dub
French dub
Portuguese dub
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Actor's name on the left, character played on the right. German dub
Italian dub
Castilian Spanish dub
Spanish dub
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Appearances
Titans and superspecies
Other monsters |
Weapons, vehicles, races, and organizations
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Development
The series was announced by Apple on January 20, 2022; details included that it would be co-created by Chris Black and Matt Fraction, executive produced by Black, Fraction, Safehouse Pictures, and Toho, and set after the events of 2014's Godzilla.[13]
Four days later on January 24, Charles Murphy of Murphy's Multiverse reported that the series had been given the title "Hourglass" and was scheduled to begin production that May.[14] This proved true with the release of issue 1283 of Production Weekly on January 27, which confirmed its working title as Hourglass as well as its planned production period.[15] The publication also revealed additional producers and Chris Black and Matt Fraction's role as writers, among other staff.[15] Issue 1286 of Production Weekly, released on February 17, confirmed that the series would be shooting in Vancouver, Tokyo, and Hawaii, and gave a new title of "Monarch".[16]
On April 14, issue #1294 of Production Weekly reported Matt Shakman as director.[17] On May 5, issue #1297 reported that Kurt Russell and Wyatt Russell were rumored for the roles of "Old Lee Shaw" and "Young Lee Shaw," respectively.[18] Variety reported on May 19 that Shakman would only be directing the series' first two episodes as well as executive producing.[19] Production Weekly dropped the Monarch title with issue #1305 on June 30, instead switching to "Godzilla and the Titans." The same issue reported Anna Sawai, Ren Watabe, Kiersey Clemons, Joe Tippett, and Elisa Lasowski as cast members;[20] Deadline corroborated this the same day, though it maintained that the series was still untitled.[21]
Variety confirmed Kurt and Wyatt Russell's casting on July 20, though their roles were not specified.[22] On August 18, Deadline reported that Mari Yamamoto had also joined the cast.[23] On October 3, Variety announced that Anders Holm had joined.[24]
On November 13, Fraction spoke briefly about the series in a post for his and Kelly Sue DeConnick's subscription newsletter Milkfed Dispatches, revealing the show to be 10 episodes long.[25] Between February 7 and 8 of 2023, Collider and ComicBook.com reported on interviews both had conducted with Shakman. In the former interview, he stated the show to be in post-production and that it would have "some overlap" with Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, though "it's not as involved as, say, an MCU kind of Disney+ film crossover. It's less organized than that."[26][27] In the latter, he revealed that the series will involve "a lot of cool Titans and monsters, some new, some old."[28]
On February 23, trademarks were filed for "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters" by Legend IP Holdings Production, LLC.[29] The title was announced officially that August 17, along with the series' projected release window.[4]
Production
The series filmed in Vancouver, Tokyo, and Hawaii.[16] A shooting period was initially set for between May 9 and November 16, 2022,[15] with the British Columbia unit to begin on May 26 and conclude on October 18.[18] However, the BC unit's shooting period was later moved back to between July 6 and December 19.[30] The BC unit's wrap date was then moved up to December 14[20] and again to December 9, with shooting finally beginning on June 27.[31] Shooting in Hawaii was set to begin that December.[20]
By January 7, 2023, principal photography on the series had concluded and it had entered post-production.[26]
Marketing
Four stills from the show were released on August 17, 2023, two of which were set during Godzilla's battle with the U.S. military at the Golden Gate Bridge in Godzilla (2014).[4] A short video released on September 7[32] preceded the release of a teaser on September 8, which revealed John Goodman's return to the Monsterverse as Bill Randa and offered glimpses of two new monsters and a Mother Longlegs.
A poster was revealed exclusively on the r/Monsterverse subreddit on October 9.[33] A panel for the show was held at the New York Comic Con, with a screening of the first episode on October 12.[34] The same day, the MonarchSciences Twitter account originally created to promote Kong: Skull Island began tweeting again; however, the account was "taken over" by a mysterious third party.[35] Later the same day, a trailer for the show was released, showcasing several new monsters and characters,[36] and a new viral marketing website named Monarch Unlocked was made available,[37] featuring a video message by Bill Randa and several photos. On October 24, the site was updated with an additional video from Randa titled "Randa_Super8.mp4."[38]
Alternate titles
- Hourglass (working title)[15]
- Monarch (proposed title)[16]
- Godzilla and the Titans (proposed title)[20]
In other languages
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Cantonese
Mandarin
Korean
Latin America
Spain
Gallery
- Main article: Monarch: Legacy of Monsters/Gallery.
Videos
- Main article: Monarch: Legacy of Monsters/Videos.
Trivia
- Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is the first Godzilla television series which does not feature Godzilla's name in its title.
- This is the first live action Godzilla television series in over two decades, following Godzilla TV (1999-2000). Godziban (2019-2023), while live action, is not televised.
- It is also the first live action Godzilla TV series to be story-driven since Godzilla Island (1997-1998) 26 years prior, and the first American Godzilla series of any kind since Godzilla: The Series (1998-2000) 25 years prior.
- Monarch Legacy of Monsters is the first TV show to directly tie into a Godzilla film continuity since Godzilla: The Series, and the first of them to be live action since Zone Fighter (1973). However, it is not the first TV show to tie into the Monsterverse continuity, as Netflix's animated series Skull Island was released four months prior.
- Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is the first major installment in the Monsterverse to feature Godzilla's GareGoji design outside of stock footage since Godzilla (2014). It appears in flashbacks to 2014 and earlier.
- The character of Lee Shaw first appeared in the 2014 Monsterverse graphic novel Godzilla: Awakening, though his first name was not given.[39]
- Ruins of Salesforce Tower can be seen in flashbacks to San Francisco in 2014. However, in real life, the tower wasn't completed until 2018.
- The Bay Bridge is also shown destroyed in flashbacks, although it can be seen intact in Godzilla (2014) as Godzilla returns to the ocean.
- While most episodes of the series have been or will be released on Fridays, the third episode was released on a Wednesday, likely due to the Thanksgiving holiday.
- The Apple TV+ Press listing for the series erroneously list the show's TV rating as TV-Y.[40]
- Characters in the series refer to the day in which Godzilla battled the MUTOs in San Francisco as "G-Day." In Legendary Pictures' other giant monster franchise, Pacific Rim, K-DAY is the term used for the day the first Kaiju, Trespasser, made landfall. Both of these monster attacks resulted in the destruction of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge.
External links
References
This is a list of references for Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]
Bibliography
- ""MONARCH" (w/t "HOURGLASS") Series / Apple TV+". Production Weekly. No. 1286. Production Weekly. 17 February 2022.
- ""MONARCH" (w/t "HOURGLASS") Series / Apple TV+". Production Weekly. No. 1287. Production Weekly. 24 February 2022.
- ""UNTITLED GODZILLA AND TITANS PROJECT" (w/t "HOURGLASS") Series / Apple TV+". Production Weekly. No. 1283. Production Weekly. 27 January 2022.
- ""MONARCH" Series / Apple TV+". Production Weekly. No. 1294. Production Weekly. 14 April 2022.
- ""GODZILLA AND THE TITANS" Series / Apple TV+". Production Weekly. No. 1305. Production Weekly. 30 June 2022.
- ""MONARCH" Series / Apple TV+". Production Weekly. No. 1289. Production Weekly. 10 March 2022.
- ""GODZILLA AND THE TITANS" Series / Apple TV+". Production Weekly. No. 1306. Production Weekly. 7 July 2022.
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