The Planet of the Apes franchise is beginning a new chapter as a new title and actor for the latest installment has been revealed. The new film, now titled Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, will reportedly be set many years after the events of War For the Planet of the Apes, the epic conclusion to the last trilogy.
No specific plot details have been provided, but Deadline reports that Freya Allan, who previously starred in Netflix's The Witcher series, will star in the upcoming project. However, no additional information about her role has been revealed, except that she will play a human character. She co-stars with Peter Macon (The Orville) and Owen Teague (It), who will star in the film as the lead ape. Alongside the reveal of a new actor attached to the project, a first-look image for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes has also been released, which showcases some concept art of an ape riding a horse in a post-apocalyptic setting with a large bird landing on its wrist.
’Planet of the Apes’ is one of the most iconic and storied science fiction franchises in film history, as well as being an indelible part of our studio’s legacy. With ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ we are privileged to continue the series’ tradition of imaginative, thought-provoking cinema, and can’t wait to share Wes’ extraordinary vision for this new chapter with audiences in 2024,” said Steve Asbell, President of 20th Century Studios.
Josh Friedman, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, and Patrick Aison pen the film's screenplay, which will be directed by Wes Ball, best known for helming The Maze Runner franchise. Along with co-writing the film's script, Jaffa and Silver will also produce the project with Joe Hartwick Jr. and Jason Reed. Peter Chernin and JennoTopping will serve as executive producers for the new installment.
Spanning back to 1968, the Planet of the Apes franchise has had several reboots and re-imaginings over the year, the most recent being the newest trilogy that began with Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which starred Andy Serkis as Caeser. With Caeser now dead and humanity slowly dying off, Kingdom of the Planet of the apes has the perfect opportunity to bring some new life into the franchise while also segueing into the world that audiences were introduced to in the original film from 1968.
With the film still in pre-production, no release date for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes has been revealed yet. Check out the official trailer for War for the Planet of the Apes below.