Kurt Russell Draws Comparison Between Filming Monarch and The Thing (Exclusive)

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is Apple TV+’s first kaiju television series focusing on Godzilla and the Titans of the MonsterVerse. The series hasn’t just assembled a score of giant monsters, but it has also brought together father and son Kurt and Wyatt Russell to play the part of character Lee Shaw in the past and present. Recently, we here at ComicBook.com had the opportunity to talk with the actors and were given insight into how Monarch’s filming reminded Kurt of his time working on John Carpenter’s The Thing. 

John Carpenter’s The Thing released in theaters in 1982, focusing on a group of scientists who are dealing with an alien organism that is able to overtake and duplicate anyone it comes into contact with. Kurt Russell played the role of MacReady, a helicopter pilot who was one of the last men standing in the face of the terrifying extraterrestrial. The fate of MacReady has always remained a mystery though Russell hasn’t been shy about revisiting the moment in interviews decades after the film’s release. Russell has spent his career facing down a number of giant threats, but perhaps none have been larger than those that makeup Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.

Monarch Is The Thing

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters recently saw Lee Shaw and his new allies traveling to Alaska to learn more about the mysteries of the Titans. In our latest interview with Kurt Russell, ComicBook.com asked if the Apple TV+ series “The amazing thing was we would fly up every morning from where we were staying in a helicopter to a glacier so there was no way not to and it was amazing. The difference was that the weather was really nice and warm from where we were in Vancouver, and then in The Thing, it was up in Alaska and that was mighty cold. It was different in that regard but it was certainly reminiscent for me.” 

Monarch: Legacy of the Monsters isn’t the only venue that is featuring rampaging kaiju in 2023, as Godzilla Minus One has arrived in theaters in North America. In 2024, the MonsterVerse is set to continue with Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, which will introduce a much different-looking king of the monsters.

What has been your favorite kaiju project of 2023? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of the Titans.