After working on The Maze Runner trilogy, director Wes Ball enters the world of primates in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. Unlike the darker tone established in the previous three films in The Planet of the Apes reboot franchise, Ball is bringing a lighter approach to the fourth film, comparing its tone to Star Wars.
“When I first started on it, I said, ‘I feel like Apes needs a little bit of Star Wars’,” Ball told Empire Magazine. “It’s all still very grounded in reality, but it is essentially a quest narrative. Our main character — the young, impressionable Noa [Owen Teague] — meets characters along the way and becomes awakened as he winds up in a place that will test him, and he ultimately becomes his true self.”
Empire Online released a new image from Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, which features Owen Teague as Noa, the franchise’s new protagonist.
Who is Involved in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes?
Teague leads Kingdom as Noa, a young chimpanzee living generations after Caesar (Andy Serkis) ruled the apes. Freya Allan, Kevin Duran, Peter Macon, and William H. Macy are among the stars in the ensemble.
“Director Wes Ball breathes new life into the global, epic franchise set several generations in the future following Caesar’s reign, in which apes are the dominant species living harmoniously and humans have been reduced to living in the shadows,” the official synopsis reads. “As a new tyrannical ape leader builds his empire, one young ape undertakes a harrowing journey that will cause him to question all that he has known about the past and to make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike.”
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is directed by Ball from a screenplay by Josh Friedman, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, and Patrick Aison. Kingdom is the sequel to 2017’s War for the Planet of the Apes. Producers include Ball, Jaffa, Silver, Joe Hartwick Jr., and Jason Reed.
20th Century Studios will release Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes in theaters on May 24, 2024.
