The Next Godzilla/Kong Movie Wants to Put More of a Focus on the Humans

Micheal

Godzilla Vs Kong Underwater Fight

After the success of The New Empire, Godzilla and Kong are gearing up for a new adventure in Legendary’s “Monsterverse” —but apparently the next time around, they’re going to be sharing the spotlight even more.

Deadline reports that the still untitled third film in the giant lizard/giant ape team-up series—with previous director Adam Wingard stepping aside for Grant Sputore—has cast Kaitlyn Dever, who is about to play Abby in season two of The Last of Us, in a major starring role.

The trade further adds that the new movie will also feature multiple titans beyond Godzilla and Kong themselves, and while the titular duo will still be the big draw (literally or otherwise), the film is “looking to build on its human characters,” and will have more of a balance between human drama and the giant monster shenanigans.

That’s interesting, if only because Legendary’s Godzilla universe has had a… mixed history when it comes to its non-kaiju characters. This won’t be the first time the films have tried to tackle more serious time with the people jostled around by the wrath of the titans, but for the most part, especially in the Kong team-up films, the human characters have been at best eclectic, at worst some of the stupidest characters put on screen. Which can be fine in a big punchy monster action movie, but is less fine if the films want to start trying to be a bit more serious and focused on the human side of things.

Thankfully, we already have a great case in point in the franchise to turn to, even if it’s not on the big screen: Monarch, Apple’s spinoff prequel-sequel series spanning multiple eras of the Monsterverse, did an incredible job in its first season of that balancing act, giving us compelling character arcs alongside jolts of fun monster action. Sure, a TV series has much more time than a movie to do the best it can with both things, but it at least shows that this franchise isn’t entirely incapable of delivering compelling characters who don’t happen to be taller than a skyscraper, too.

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