Godzilla has been having “a moment” since his 1950s debut, but the nuclear lizard’s ubiquity has (deservedly) gone into overdrive in recent years with Toho’s Oscar-winning Godzilla Minus One, which is streaming on Netflix and has a sequel coming. The “absolute slobberknocker” of last year’s Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire also kept Legendary’s Monsterverse coming in hot, but the small-screen has been bringing the fire, too. Legendary and Apple TV+’s Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters, which began its run by promising Kurt Russell teaming up with Godzilla.
What transpired on Apple TV+ was (to put things mildly) a streaming success, and in April 2024, Legendary and Apple TV+ announced a second-season renewal in addition to “multiple spin-off series.” Let’s piece together what clues have been dropped so far and speculate about whether that “death” was really the end for Russell’s involvement in the series.
Plot
It’s fair to say that the events of Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters‘ first season were intentionally muddy at times, including the motives of Lee Shaw (portrayed by both Kurt Russell and his IRL son, Wyatt) in this generation-spanning series. That became clearer by season’s end, but a major lingering question in the jump between seasons is whether Lee Shaw survived another portal entry. This ambiguity was surely planned since there was no guarantee on whether Kurt Russell would return for a second season, but also, Shaw has survived before, so anything is possible. Also, we saw no body, so death cannot definitively be called either way. Those signs point to his return in the second season, or Shaw could surface in a future movie.
When quizzed on a possible return by The Direct, Kurt Russell reflected to the Monarch org’s history and suggested that the baton could be passed:
“I think that what’s interesting about this show is that when you go back in time, you flashback to how these people got together and where this whole thing started. It’s the human aspect of it that you are focused on. And I think all his life; he’s, you know, there were certain things that he was waiting for, and setting up that sort of mysterious way that you finally begin to understand towards the end. To me, you would carry on with that and understand mysteries work in different ways, with different people, different scenarios. So they’d… have to lean into those scenarios.”
So, no news is good news from Kurt Russell? We will see. What is much more concrete, however, is Legendary’s confirmation that the second season will spend plenty of time on Skull Island, as confirmed by a recent still from Legendary with this message: “Greetings from Skull Island. Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 2 is in production.”
In other words, we should be seeing much more of this guy:
Let’s hope that Godzilla isn’t entirely out of this show’s equation. There’s been no discussion on that subject from official parties, and series creator Chris Black told Screenrant (in a group conversation that confirmed the return of cast members Kiersey Clemons, Anna Sawai, Joe Tippet) that he’s essentially bound to secrecy:
“I think our friends from Apple are here, so I’m not sure what I’m allowed to say. But it’s going to be big. It’s going to be great. We’re really excited and just so thrilled to have the opportunity to come back and keep telling this story. I think if you watched the season finale, and you get to the end of the season finale, I think you know what the teaser is.”
In that same discussion, Anna Sawai did express hope that Cate Randa will be “taking a little bit more action” now that she’s learned about her family legacy. Fingers crossed, and there will be no protest from the Shōgun audience on that front.
Cast
Although Apple TV+ hasn’t been straightforward on returning cast members, we can expect to see plenty of returning faces. That could include Kurt Russell and Wyatt Russell or simply the latter or neither of them at all, but stay tuned there.
Anna Sawai figured prominently into the finale as Cate Randa, so those who want more of her after Shōgun know where to find her, and other first-season cast members included Mari Yamamoto, Anders Holm, John Goodman, Kiersey Clemons, Ren Watabe, Joe Tippett, and Elisa Lasowski.
Variety reported that Prey‘s Amber Midthunder signed on for a recurring second season role as Isabel, “an intelligent and powerful businesswoman.”
Release Date
With Legendary and Apple TV+ providing a “first look” in November 2024, we can guess that a late 2025 release is possible, but don’t be too surprised if this pushes into early 2026.
Trailer
Since Apple TV+ hasn’t released any footage yet, G-Fans can revisit this moment when Lee Shaw realizes that what doesn’t kill Godzilla only makes the nuclear lizard stronger.