What to Know Before Seeing ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’
Who is Caesar? And how did apes learn to talk, anyway? Your burning questions about the “Planet of the Apes” franchise answered.
An ape on a horse looks out into a field.
Noa, performed by Owen Teague, in “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” directed by Wes Ball.Credit...20th Century Studios
By Esther Zuckerman
May 10, 2024
For some, the name “Planet of the Apes” might conjure memories of Charlton Heston in 1968. But the most recent incarnation of the sci-fi franchise has been going strong since 2011. These “Apes” movies feature no fuzzy costumes or heavy prosthetics, and instead are feats of computer generated performance capture technology.
The latest one, “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” (in theaters), is both a direct sequel to its predecessors and a bit of a reboot of the property. Whereas the first three films in this new series took place within a relatively compact timeline, “Kingdom” jumps centuries into the future. And yet, thematically, it is still deeply connected to what came before. So what should you know going in?
Caesar is dead. Long live Caesar.
Directed by Wes Ball, “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” takes place “many generations” after the first trilogy of films in this monkey business: “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” (2011), “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” (2014) and “War for the Planet of the Apes” (2017). Yet, those movies’ protagonist, Caesar, is perhaps the most important unseen character in “Kingdom.” He’s long dead — we see a glimpse of his funeral — but his legacy as a leader is debated and referred to throughout
the plot.
