Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ Official Trailer Reveals a Familiar Story
Back to basics.
Once you get past the plot twist of the century, Planet of the Apes had one unique sci-fi premise going for it: a world where apes ruled society and humans were the primitive less-than species. Over the past 13 years, the rebooted Planet of the Apes franchise has explored a contemporary take on the story. Now, the past has finally caught up with the future, and it looks better than we could have imagined.
The upcoming Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is set in the future, 300 years after 2017’s War for the Planet of the Apes, and the trailer makes it seem like we’re back to square one: apes in control, humans the oppressed savage group. But that may not be for long thanks to a chimpanzee named Noa (Owen Teague) forming an unlikely alliance with human girl Mae (Freya Allan.) Check out the full trailer below.
The trailer seems to allude that this new take on the era we saw all those years ago will focus more on the rehabilitation of society than its predecessors. As the orangutan Raka said: “Legends say ape and human lived side-by-side, impossible as that may seem.” Noa and Mae will be the first uneasy alliance between apes and humans that could spell a harmonious existence — and possibly the end of this series.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes may be the most future-focused movie in the reboot, but it’s unlikely the movie will enmesh the premise of the original movies with this new universe: the Caesar we saw in Rise of the Planet of the Apes is very different from the Caesar in the original movies.
However, with this new premise focusing on the unity of these two factions of this futuristic society coming together, this movie could be the spiritual successor to both timelines, providing closure to both the new movies and the older (and more unhinged) original films. Planet of the Apes has always been about questioning our role above animals, and now Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes can pose the same question from the opposite perspective.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes premieres in theaters May 10, 2024.
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