This week, the new film in the Planet of the Apes saga was finally announced, but with a truly unexpected twist: director Wes Ball, who helmed the acclaimed Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, will be replaced by Matt Shakman, who will usher in a new narrative direction.
It was announced that the director of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer will collaborate with screenwriter Josh Friedman, who previously wrote Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, on a new original Planet of the Apes film. And although nothing is known yet about the plot (aside from the fact that it will be set, well, on the Planet of the Apes), it has been confirmed, surprisingly, that it will not be a direct sequel to Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
Instead, it will be a completely new story, described as a “reboot” by sources. However, it could also be a soft reboot, or at least a story that won’t entirely disregard the events of Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Although no details are available yet, 20th Century Studios’ head of production, producer Steve Asbell, recently hinted that the new Planet of the Apes film won’t be a complete reboot: “I guess it all depends on how you define ‘a sequel’?” he wrote on X, commenting on a post that labeled Matt Shakman’s film as “not a sequel to the story of ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’.”
So, will there be more connections between the two films than the original movie announcement suggested? That seems like the right direction to take, especially since fans of the Planet of the Apes saga have already made it clear they don’t want yet another reboot: “Why not continue the story of Noa and the other intelligent human survivors? If it were another time jump, that would be one thing, but a complete reboot would be disappointing,“ commented a user on Reddit. ”What a shame. I guess we’ll never find out what kind of conflict would have arisen with Noa,“ said someone else. ”If this means there won’t be a sequel to Kingdom, it’s absurd, considering the open ending and the storylines it introduced. Kingdom didn’t live up to the previous films in the trilogy, but it was a good start for a potential new trilogy,” noted another user. “Why ruin something good? This would make the last movie completely pointless, unless they somehow bring it back. I’d actually prefer they go this route,” said another user.
The new Planet of the Apes movie doesn’t have a release date yet, but we’ll keep you updated.
