Concept art for Rise of the Planet of the Apes reveal alternate ending

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Rupert Wyatt's RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES was an impressive reboot of Fox's classic PLANET OF THE APES franchise, and the film's ending set up for the excellent sequel DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (which hits Blu-ray and DVD next month). Some of you may already be aware that the studio toyed with the idea of changing the fate of James Franco's character (in one version he died, while he lived in the other), but now some recently revealed images share another alternate ending that could have changed the direction the series went.

The artwork comes from the folks at the FilmSketchr blog, who discovered it in the portfolio of artist Brian Cunningham. The images feature a haunting homage to the original Charlton Heston-starring PLANET OF THE APES in which an older Caesar climbs a mysterious staircase up into an unknown space in a big building.

In the next image we see Caesar looking out of the structure…

…and finally go to a wider shot, which reveals Caesar is looking out from the Statue of Liberty as New York is in fiery ruins around him.

While that would've been really cool to see, it certainly would have complicated where the sequel could have gone and we wouldn't have gotten Matt Reeves excellent DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES. Perhaps we'll see something similiar in future installments in the franchise.