Godzilla: King of the Monsters made a Kaiju-sized splash with its first trailer debut during San Diego Comic-Con 2018, and now that fans have gotten to peruse the footage, some interesting new theories are coming to light.
One of the biggest theories about Godzilla 2 right now? That there’s a major connection to Kong: Skull Island right in front of her faces; the return of none other Tom Hiddleston’s character, James Conrad!
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During Rotten Tomatoes’ interview with the Godzilla: King of the Monsters cast, director Michael Dougherty revealed the following: “We do bring back one character from Kong: Skull Island.”
That statement led to immediate speculation about which of the surviving Skull Island characters could conceivably make a return in King of the Monsters, and one major theory has started to pop-up on fan sites and chat threads: That Hiddleston’s James Conrad has aged to become Game of Thrones star Charles Dance’s character in Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
Kong: Skull Island took place in 1973 when Conrad, a former British Special Air Service Captain turned mercenary tracker, was hired by Monarch pioneer Bill Randa (John Goodman) for the infamous Skull Island expedition. Conrad and photojournalist Mason Weaver (Brie Larson) were two of the only survivors, and given what happened on Skull Island, as well as the Godzilla emergence on the western seaboard decades later, it wouldn’t be surprising if Conrad was compelled to take a more active role in the “Titans” re-emergence in the world.
For the mathematically challenged: Hiddleston’s Conrad was probably in his late 20s to early 30s when Skull Island took place; that would place him in the late 60s to early 70s range at the time Godzilla 2 takes place. As we saw in the trailer footage, it seems that Dance’s character will be the one holding Vera Farmiga’s Dr. Emma Russell hostage. Since Emma has developed a way to communicate with the Titans, she may be invaluable to plans that someone like Conrad would have. To that point: on Skull Island, James Conrad had to learn that there are degrees to being a monster, and that figures like King Kong (or presumably Godzilla) are necessary in the world order to stop worse threats (like King Ghidorah) from rising. One has to wonder if it isn’t Conrad who helps summon Godzilla again using Emma’s tech, or if he reaches out to another potential savior who lead us into 2020’s Godzilla vs. Kong crossover.
We’ll find out when Godzilla: King of Monsters hits theaters on May 31, 2019.
