After 56 years and a landmark 10 movies, how many other franchises can say they’ve had as much of a mark on Hollywood as Planet of the Apes? We’ve had a few clunkers along the way (we’re looking at you, Tim Burton), but after 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes ushered in a new dawn, we’ve been treated to some “apesolute” masterpieces.
Although it looked like Matt Reeves’ War for the Planet of the Apes rounded off the story in 2017, Wes Ball took the reins of the Ape-Verse and welcomes a new dynasty for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. Despite a jump to 300 years after the events of War for the Planet of the Apes, Ball isn’t monkeying around when it comes to honoring what’s come before. If we’ve capuchin-ed your attention, here are the 10 best Easter eggs from Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.
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Nova
Alongside Owen Teague and Kevin Durand taking the leads in the ape stakes as Noa and Proxmius Caesar, it wouldn’t be an Apes movie without some downtrodden humans. This time, The Witcher’s Freya Allan plays Mae — an originally mute female whom Noa grows close to as things progress.
Raka the orangutan (Peter Macon) gives Mae the nickname of Nova, which is a nod to 1968’s original Apes movie, Tim Burton’s 2001 remake, and War for the Planet of the Apes. In the original timeline, Linda Harrison played Nova in the first movie and 1970’s Beneath the Planet of the Apes. She sadly met her end in the second movie’s glum ending, although her legacy lived on.
Lisa Marie played a very different Nova in the 2001 remake, appearing as a chimpanzee who could speak and wasn’t a fan of humans. In War for the Planet of the Apes, Amiah Miller played Nova and inadvertently spread the evolved version of Simian Flu to Colonel McCullough (Woody Harrelson). A seemingly meta joke has Raka mention how apes call them all Nova.
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Honoring the Original
More than being a continuation of the reboot trilogy, Kingdom is heavily inspired by Franklin J. Schaffner’s original Planet of the Apes. One of the big action scenes has Proximus Caesar’s apes chasing a group of humans through a stream. Alongside cinematic parallels of Mae running into the grass like Taylor (Charlton Heston) did, there are the same musical cues that Jerry Goldsmith used all those years ago.
This is far from the only wink to Schaffner’s movie, with Kingdom’s harrowing bridge scene featuring a similarly tense soundtrack and sinister scarecrows from the original. Ball directly acknowledged these ties with Den of Geek, explaining, “It just seemed like the right idea. It was a way of saying, ‘Hey, we’re making a Planet of the Apes movie here.’”
Perhaps the most obscure is the inclusion of a creepy doll when Noa, Mae, Anaya (Travis Jeffrey), and Soona (Lydia Peckham) enter the bunker. Ball told ScreenRant that the sound department used the exact same “mama” from way back when.
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Lawgiver
One of the most mysterious characters in the Ape-Verse is the Lawgiver, whose wise words are only mentioned in the first two movies. The character eventually appears in Battle for the Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and bookends the movie by teaching a group of humans and apes about Caesar (no, not our Caesar).
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes opens with a flashback to Caesar’s death, seeing Andy Serkis’ mo-capped monkey being burned on a funeral pyre. This leads to a major time jump of several generations, and even though the movie doesn’t make it clear, we know it’s around 300 years. Even after all this time, Caesar’s ways are being taught, with Raka being the last member of the Order of Caesar.
Raka refers to Caesar as “lawgiver”, hammering home that he’s some biblical messiah. Given that the opening featured Maurice the orangutan, there are theories that he founded the Order of Caesar, and these ways have been passed down. With the Order of Caesar and Proximus Caesar seemingly defunct by the end of Kingdom, there are worries that Caesar’s legacy will be lost. Don’t worry, we’ve got a theory on that later.
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Caesar by Name Alone
Durand steps up as the big bad of Kingdom, with the egotistical Proximus Caesar taking the name of the reboot trilogy’s hero in name alone. The bloodthirsty bonobo shows how far we’ve come from Caesar’s days, with Proximus Caesar feeling more like Toby Kebbell’s Koba from Rise and Dawn.
Raka wears a symbol around his neck, which is repeated several times throughout. This is an Easter egg in itself, with it mirroring the window of the house where Caesar was raised by James Franco’s Will Rodman. After an enraged Raka dismisses the idea that Proximus Caesar is teaching the ways of our Caesar, it’s clear it’s more than 300 years that separate the two leaders.
We’re calling it now, but it feels like Ball is building up to the reveal that Noa is the descendant of Caesar. An impressive Reddit thread highlights how Caesar and Noa also look like they could be related, while someone else noticed how the latter’s eyes sometimes appear blue — showing possible similarities with Caesar’s son, Blue Eyes.
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Look to the Stars
Assuming Ball goes for bigger and better, a Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes sequel might (quite literally) shoot for the stars. Space is a recurring theme in the movie, with Noa and Mae gazing through a telescope. Later, we see Noa fascinated by the mobile of the solar system and having a particular obsession with Saturn.
Tim Burton’s 2001 reboot conveniently had the Oberon space station near Saturn before Mark Wahlberg’s Leo Davidson was pulled through an electromagnetic storm. Also, Charlton Heston’s Taylor was an astronaut who crashed on the titular planet in 1968’s movie. Ball told Den of Geek how we’re edging closer to the events of the 1968 movie, and while he’s yet to confirm we’ll get a full-blown remake, it definitely feels like the cosmos awaits.
Franchise fanatics haven’t forgotten the tease of the Icarus mission and an astronaut that looks suspiciously like Heston’s Taylor being lost in space during 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes. It’s a suitably out-there theory, but what if Noa glimpsed a satellite or space station while peering into the cosmos?
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Apes Strong Together
A bit like the laws of Animal Farm, the apes live by a simplistic code of laws. Back in the original timeline, there were two laws: “Ape shall never kill ape” and “Humans shall never say no to an ape.” The latter was cleverly incorporated into Rise of the Planet of the Apes when Caesar bellowed “No” and broke free from the zoo. We thought we were going to get a rehash of this with Mae shouting “No,” but instead, she shouts, “Noa.”
The rule of “Ape shall never kill ape” led to the death of General Aldo in 1973’s Battle for the Planet of the Apes and was a recurring mantra in the reboot trilogy. Famously, a vision of Koba taunted Caesar after he inadvertently killed Winter in War for the Planet of the Apes. When it comes to Kingdom, it looked like Proximus Caesar’s many murders would be his downfall with Eagle Clan uniting against him. But that wasn’t quite what happened.
There’s also the return of, “Apes together strong,” which has become a motto of Caesar’s teachings. Promixus Caesar takes this at a literal level to try and break into a bunker with the physical strength of the apes, but in the end, it’s not enough. Even though Kingdom starts with the idea that apes and humans are strongest together, the end paints a very different picture where the two sides are more at odds than ever.
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The Forbidden Zone
It’s fair to say the world has gone to sh*t since the events of War for the Planet of the Apes, with Simian Flu devolving remnants of society and apes inheriting the Earth. We start by following the story of the Eagle Clan, who’ve set up an idyllic life away from the other clans.
Koro (Neil Sandilands) is Noa’s father and leader of the clan, warning not to go through the tunnel and into the Forbidden Zone. We see there’s plenty beyond here, and in the ruins of Los Angeles, Noa even gets to explore the ancient remnants of LAX. Even if we don’t quite get to see a ruined Statue of Liberty, the overgrown forest of skyscrapers show just how the world has crumbled in the absence of humans.
The Forbidden Zone is another repeated element from the older movies. The 1968 movie had Cornelius and Zira flee to the Forbidden Zone after they freed Nova and Taylor. There was even a four-issue The Forbidden Zone comic in 1992. This new Forbidden Zone isn’t forbidden to everyone, and it’s here that we see Proxmius Caesar has set up his own version of Ape City.
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Clash of Clans
The Planet of the Apes movies have always had something to say about race, and while things have thankfully come a long way since 1968, the franchise still has a fairly simplistic way of dividing species. Chimps have largely been the heroes, while the other species have slotted neatly into categories.
Like the villainous Koba, Promixus Caesar is a bonobo. Orangutans like Raka, the original franchise’s Dr. Zaius, and the reboot trilogy’s Maurice are depicted as highly intelligent and sage. Finally, gorillas are usually shown as the military muscle, with the original series’ General Ursus, Winter from War for the Planet of the Apes, and Sylva commanding Proximus Caesar’s army in Kingdom.
Kingdom also features Raka telling Mae about gibbons and their long arms, which seems like a tease of a storyline yet to come. Apart from fleeting appearances in the reboot trilogy, gibbons have never majorly featured in an Apes movie. In fact, it was something of a big deal when Marvel Comics introduced the species in 2024’s Beware the Planet of the Apes.
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Telepathic Mutants
We doubt that some of the more outlandish ideas from the ‘60s and ‘70s movies will make their way into Ball’s plans for a new trilogy, so don’t count on humans evolving into telepathic mutants akin to Beneath the Planet of the Apes. Still, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes proves that not all humans are loincloth-wearing Neanderthals/ We know Mae came from a group of “normal’ humans,” while William H. Macy plays Proximus Caesar’s humanoid teacher, Trevathan.
Things come to a head at a government bunker that Proximus Caesar is trying to get inside, although the abandoned facility suggests that anyone down there is long dead or has long since left. Kingdom’s end proves there are still pockets of civilized humanity out there, but Instead of evolving, the ending shows those who aren’t immune to Simian Flu have simply kept themselves locked up underground.
Mae’s immunity could become a key part of the next chapter(s), with the obvious theories she’ll be crucial to trying to create a cure. For those worried that we won’t see Mae again, Ball told ScreenRant that the relationship between her and Noa is “going to be hugely important” to what comes next. We also don’t see them locking lips like Taylor and Zira did in the original, but you never know.
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A Sequel Stinger
For those of you who stuck around until the very end, you might be disappointed that Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes doesn’t have a Marvel Cinematic Universe-inspired post-credit scene. As we previously mentioned, Ball’s discussions about a continuing franchise suggest there’s more to come. Couple that with the movie’s solid reviews and equally solid opening financials, and things are on track.
Aside from Rise of the Planet of the Apes featuring some clever credits that revealed the effects of the ALZ-13 pandemic sweeping the globe, the movies haven’t featured a tease of what’s to come. Although Kingdom could easily be a standalone if things go terribly wrong, that doesn’t mean that Ball simply leaves us with the credits.
Instead of a post-credit scene, there’s a guttural noise of apes. Although unconfirmed, it sounds like the noises made from Raka. We won’t give things away, but that might be a major clue about what happens in the next chapter. Here’s hoping!
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Author Bio:
Based in Manchester, UK, Tom Chapman has over seven years’ experience covering everything from dragons to Demogorgons. Starting out with a stint at Movie Pilot in Berlin, Tom has since branched out to indulge his love of all things Star Wars and the MCU at Digital Spy, Den of Geek, IGN, Yahoo! and more. These days, you’ll find Tom channelling his inner Gale Weathers and ranting about how HBO did us dirty with Game of Thrones Season Eight.
