Monarch: Legacy of Monsters: MonsterVerse Timeline and What to Watch Explained

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters has premiered its first two episodes on Apple TV+ and the MonsterVerse TV series is quickly gaining traction online. The new series marks the first live-action television show in Legendary's larger MonsterVerse franchise, which started nine years ago with the reboot of Godzilla. Though there aren't too many familiar faces within Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (really just Godzilla and one human character appear in the films an the show), the series does have other familiar faces including father-son duo Wyatt Russell and Kurt Russell, who are playing the same character across two different time periods. 

It's also worth noting that Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is already a hit with critics. As of this writing Monarch: Legacy of Monsters has a 91% approval rating with over 50 total reviews, making it the highest rated piece of media in the MonsterVerse. The connectivity between the MonsterVerse and Monarch: Legacy of Monsters may have some newcomers confused. Do you NEED To watch all the movies before you see the series? Where is it set against the timeline of all the Legendary MonsterVerse movies? We've got Monarch: Legacy of Monsters answers for you:

What to watch before Monarch: Legacy of Monsters?

Though there are four movies in the MonsterVerse, you really only need to watch two of them before you watch Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. There are two major plotlines unfolding in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, one in the past and one in the aftermath of the 2014 Godzilla reboot, which means that the Gareth Edwards' Godzilla is one of the two films that are beneficial viewing for Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. 

One more MonsterVerse movie that fans may need to watch before diving into Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is 2017's Kong: Skull Island. Not only does the opening scene for Monarch: Legacy of Monsters take place on Skull Island during the events of that movie, but one of the main characters from that film also returns. Not only does John Goodman reprise his role of Bill Randa from Kong: Skull Island in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, but Anders Holm takes on the part for the flashback sequences of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.

The other two movies in the MonsterVerse, 2019's Godzilla: King of the Monsters and 2021's Godzilla vs Kong, happen AFTER the events of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. While so far it seems like there's no reason to watch those movies ahead of time, there could certainly be a tie-in to either of those sequels. The 2023 animated series Skull Island, streaming on Netflix, also appears to have no bearing on the events of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (both feature crab kaiju, but neither resemble each other).

When does Monarch: Legacy of Monsters take place?

The MonsterVerse timeline is pretty straight forward, but Monarch: Legacy of Monsters bobs and weaves throughout the entire thing. Legendary's MonsterVerse has just four movies in it and in chronological order they go:

• Kong: Skull Island
• Godzilla (2014)
• Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)
• Godzilla vs Kong

The events of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters are divided on the timeline, with the bulk of the action set in two distinct points in the timeline, the 1950s and in 2015. As a result, the events of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters take place both before the events of Kong: Skull Island, making them the earliest events depicted timeline wise for the MonsterVerse, and in-between the events of Godzilla (2014) and Godzilla: King of the Monsters.

How many episodes will Monarch: Legacy of Monsters have?

Legendary TV and Apple TV+ have confirmed that the first season of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters will be composed of ten episodes. The first two episodes of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters have been released already with new episodes released every Friday on Apple TV+, except for episode 3 which will arrive early because of the Thanksgiving/Black Friday holidays. The release schedule for Monarch: Legacy of Monsters will look like this:

• Monarch: Legacy of Monsters episode 3 – Wednesday, November 22 
• Monarch: Legacy of Monsters episode 4 – Friday, December 1
• Monarch: Legacy of Monsters episode 5 – Friday, December 8
• Monarch: Legacy of Monsters episode 6 –  Friday, December 15
• Monarch: Legacy of Monsters episode 7 – Friday, December 22
• Monarch: Legacy of Monsters episode 8 – Friday, December 29
• Monarch: Legacy of Monsters episode 9 –  Friday, January 5
• Monarch: Legacy of Monsters episode 10 –  season finale – Friday, January 12