Wes Ball, the director of the newest installment of the Planet of the Apes franchise, titled Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, recently revealed why Andy Serkis won’t be coming back in the upcoming entry. “We talked about it, for sure. Like, ‘Could you play another ape character?’” Wes Ball said. “I entertained that thought for a long time, because I thought it would be f***ing cool. And Matt [Reeves] would always say, ‘Andy is the best actor I’ve ever worked with.’” At the end of the day, Ball decided that Serkis’ performance in the Planet of the Apes trilogy “was just too iconic,” but added that there’s a chance he could appear in future movies.
Entertainment Weekly has revealed new images while Ball unveils details about his newest film. While Caesar’s story as the Ape Revolutionary has ended, a new primate character takes up the mantle. The character is a chimpanzee called Noa, played by Owen Teague. Ball explains, “He’s on that threshold of becoming who he is going to be as an ape. It’s about him falling into these extraordinary circumstances that lead him into a world that he doesn’t know.” The director talks about the time frame of this new movie and where it fits in the franchise. “It’s many, many generations later. In the time between the previous movie and this movie, this Dark Ages has happened where things have been lost, and in our movie we’re going to rediscover them on this grand adventure.”
As with the new Ape empire, there will inevitably be new power struggles with the evolution of their society. Kevin Durand portrays a chimpanzee antagonist named Proximus, who is on the cusp of realizing his own power. Ball expounded, “The interesting thing about Proximus is that, with some help, he’s rediscovered electricity. To apes that forgot about all these things, that’s like a magic power. So they’re experimenting with it. I don’t even think you can call him a villain. I would call him an adversary. You understand him, you can relate to him in a way. It’s an interesting character who isn’t just a mustache-twirling cutout.”