If you ever wanted the Monsterverse to continue, then your wish may have came true, but not with more movies. Rather in the form of a live action tv series as Legendary announced they will be making a tv series for Apple TV+.
Legendary comments, “We’re thrilled to announce the #Monsterverse is expanding with an all-new original live action series for @AppleTVPlus featuring #Godzilla and the Titans that will explore the mythic legacy of a world in which monsters are real.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Chris Black, Robert Kirkman, Joby Harold and Tory Tunnell from Safehouse Pictures as well as Hiro Matsuoka and Takemasa Arita from Toho Co. Ltd. will be executive producers of the series.
The story for the yet-to-be titled series takes place after the events of Godzilla (2014). It explores one family’s journey to uncover its buried secrets and a legacy linking them to the secret organization known as Monarch.
On top of that, Deadline reports that Legendary is already working on the next Monsterverse movie. Until Legendary confirms there is another movie in the works, it is best to stay skeptical and not take it too seriously.
I am happy that we are getting more Godzilla for the Monsterverse, even if it is in the form of a tv series. This could mean a few things. First one means it shows that Toho Co. really liked what Legendary had done with the Monsterverse and could potentially be a sign that Toho would like to see the Monsterverse continue with Godzilla. The second meaning that I heard some people say could be the end of movies and a TV show is the direction that Legendary wants to go with for now on. There are a bunch of possibilities. You can even say that maybe Legendary is taking this route to allow Toho to make their movies for a few years and then switch back to Legendary. There is one article that mentioned that in one part of the contract Legendary can keep the rights for Godzilla as long as they kept making content. So TV shows could be a way for Legendary to keep content flowing until they decide where to go with the Monsterverse from here and still keep the rights for Godzilla.
What I am not too happy about is that it is another story focused on a family. I don't mind stories focused on families, but it has gotten stale and cliché at this point. We have had three out of four Monsterverse movies that concentrated on a family oriented story. Godzilla (2014) was about a soldier trying to reconnect with his father and trying to get home to his family during a monster attack. Godzilla: King of the Monsters involved a divorced husband and wife arguing what they think is best for the world after losing their son and forgetting that their daughter is stuck in between the two while the world is getting destroyed by the monsters. Finally, Godzilla vs Kong had a little native girl who lost her family from the storm on Skull Island and was adopted by Kong and a Monarch researcher.
If it were up to me, I would have rather be about something else. If you remember the creepy-pasta about a hacker that was being chased by Monarch and how some of the whistle blowers that the hacker came into contact with were silenced, that would actually make for an interesting show. A story like that would allow us to see the darker side of Monarch of how they kept these monsters a secret from the public eye and how they would handle whistle blowers and conspiracy theorists would actually be something interesting to watch. Or maybe the show could focus on a different monster each episode and we see Godzilla make cameo appearances in a couple episodes fighting or interacting with the monster the episode is focused on.
For those that find it weird that Legendary is putting this tv series on Apple TV rather than HBO Max, it’s not too weird or unheard at all when you think back to previous events. In December 2020 when WarnerMedia announced the same day theatrical and HBO Max release, we learned that Legendary was going to make a deal with Netflix to stream Godzilla vs Kong before WarnerMedia blocked it. Then, there is the Skull Island anime that is also in the works for Netflix. In other words, the Monsterverse can be distributed by any media company depending on whoever is most interested on the project.
As stated by Deadline, "Apple showed immediate interest as it looks to add more branded IP to a slate of original TV series to grow." The only good shows on Apple TV that I heard about are Greyhound and Ted Lasso. Apple TV+ is lagging behind Netflix, HBO Max, Disney +, Hulu, and Amazon Prime because either you have not heard about most of the content on Apple TV+ or the shows are just not very good (again, based on what I have heard). So from how it sounds Apple TV is desperate to get people to subscribe and watch shows on their platform and they saw this Monsterverse show as a way to make some decent numbers.
I will say that it is a little irritating that Legendary just doesn’t stay with at least one streaming service. If they’re doing one series with Netflix, then why not make the other streamed on Netflix too? Or put it on HBO Max since Legendary is still partnered with WarnerMedia. Either way, I would like to see Legendary sticking with at least one streaming service in the future for their shows instead of forcing fans to sign up for multiple services just to watch the shows. Signing up for multiple services is expensive and not many people will want to sign up for them unless the service has a more than decent enough content to justify the subscription.
As for Deadline reporting that a new movie is in the works, as much as I want to believe it, I need 100% confirmation from Legendary that a new Monsterverse movie is happening. We have talked about how Legendary was talking about exploring different ideas like space monsters last year. However, there still is no confirmation about another movie in the works yet. Remember, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, and other media outlets were the ones that announced a Son of Kong movie and we didn’t get any confirmation on that and they even announced that Adam Wingard would return to direct more Monsterverse movies even though he already has Face/Off, Thundercats, and Event Horizon on his plate of movies to direct. Is it possible that another movie is in the works? It’s possible and I am all for seeing another movie happen for the Monsterverse, but there is no point in getting excited for something that may not ever happen until Legendary confirms it themselves.
What do you guys think of Legendary making a Monsterverse show for Apple TV? Does this make you excited or are you on the fence? Do you think we will see more Monsterverse movies? Will you be subscribing to Apple TV to watch it? Leave a comment in the comments section of your thoughts on this announcement. Make sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Minds, MeWe, and Gab to stay up to date for more news, reviews, and discussions.