Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes Director Wes Ball Says New Film Fits Between Caesar Trilogy and Original Film

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is being released next week, and the new film marks the 10th Planet of the Apes movie to be released since 1968. The original franchise featured five films that were released between 1968 and 1973, and Tim Burton made a remake in 2001 before the most recent trilogy began in 2011 and ended in 2017. While it’s been confirmed that the upcoming film ties directly into the previous trilogy and is set hundreds of years later, fans have been wondering if it will also connect to the originals. During a recent interview with ComicBook, director Wes Ball addressed the new movie’s placement in the series.

“I have said this before, but I was hesitant when I was first asked about it,” Ball explained. “I wasn’t sure that there was a next movie … I wasn’t interested in making a Part Four … If we were just to do another continuation, you know, a 1-2-3-4 never works. Beginning, middle, end. Closure, perfect. And it wasn’t until we decided to do this, where there’s still a tether to those other movies, but be our own thing. That’s where I felt the freedom that we could go be our own thing, and stand on our own two feet. And then it was just a question of, ‘Can we come up with a story that was worthy of telling?’ … A chapter in this long legacy of movies that have been made over since 1968. That was the challenge.”

“So will it work for audiences? I don’t know. It’s a different tone this time. It’s a different set of characters, a different type of story, a different look … I’m a different filmmaker, so it’s a different style to some degree,” he explained. “But we tried to share as much DNA as we could. Not just the previous trilogy of movies that Matt [Reeves] did and Rupert [Wyatt] before him, but all the way back to ’68. We tried to feel like we’re a part of this franchise, which we all love. That was the goal.”

“We tried to exist in both places,” he added. “The two pillars. The Ceasar trilogy and we’ve got the ’68, and we’re trying to be somewhere in the middle between those two.” 

You can watch our interview with Wes Ball at the top of the page. 

Are All of the Planet of the Apes Movies Canon?

While Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is tied to the 1968 movie and the most recent trilogy, it’s unclear if the original’s four sequels are considered “canon” to the new film. Previously, Ball explained to members of the press during an edit bay visit that canon has always been “loose” in this franchise. 

“Yeah. I would consider them canon, but even in the last trilogy, even though they say Mars astronauts go missing in Rise, I don’t think Matt [Reeves] really thought about time-traveling astronauts in his two movies,” Ball explained. “So they’re always a little fuzzy with… I don’t think in this world that we’re creating there’s going to be a time machine that sends apes back to the… We’re in a different age kind of thing for that, but we still try to… That’s what I love about these movies. They still feel connected somehow, even if we do drop a few ideas that don’t really hold up anymore. But Beneath, fans of that movie might see some things in this, that might remind them … You know what I mean? … We took all those movies in a stew and found the pieces that may hopefully feel related to … Canon’s always been a little loose in these movies, I think.” 

Directed by Wes Ball, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes stars Owen Teague (IT), Freya Allan (The Witcher), Kevin Durand (Locke & Key), Peter Macon (Shameless), and William H. Macy (Fargo). The movie opens in theaters on May 10th.