KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES Director Shares New Story and Character Details

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes director Wes Ball recently sat down with Entertainment Weekly to talk about his upcoming film, sharing new story details, and insight on the characters of the film including Proximus Caesar, explaining why he's not necessarily a traditional villain.

I’ve actually been pretty excited about watching Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. It looks like it’s going to deliver a fun adventure movie that fans of the franchise might enjoy.

The story for the film is set 300 years after the events of Matt Reeves' War for the Planet of the Apes, taking us a lot closer to the world that we were first introduced to in 1968's Planet of the Apes. When talking about the setting for the film, Ball said:

"It’s many, many generations later. In the time between the previous movie and this movie, this Dark Ages has happened where things have been lost, and in our movie we’re going to rediscover them on this grand adventure."

The main character in this story is a chimpanzee named Noa, played by Owen Teague. He’s the one that finds himself on this quest and Ball describes the character as neither an adult nor a kid. He explained:

"He’s on that threshold of becoming who he is going to be as an ape. It’s about him falling into these extraordinary circumstances that lead him into a world that he doesn’t know."

The film’s villain is another chimpanzee named Proximus, who is played by Kevin Durand. Instead of focusing on the descendants of Caesar, the name “Caesar" has instead become like a ceremonial title handed down through the generations. When talking about Proximus Caesar, Ball explains that he’s not really a traditional villain, he’s more like a Thomas Edison or Elon Musk-type antagonist:

"The interesting thing about Proximus is that, with some help, he’s rediscovered electricity. To apes that forgot about all these things, that’s like a magic power. So they’re experimenting with it. I don’t even think you can call him a villain. I would call him an adversary. You understand him, you can relate to him in a way. It's an interesting character who isn’t just a mustache-twirling cutout."

As for where the franchise will go from here, the director is moving on to develop Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda movie, but he believes Kingdom sets the stage for a new trilogy.

"We certainly think there is a lot more story to be told, not just in the Planet of the Apes legacy of it all, but in terms of these characters we’ve created and the arcs that we're thinking about. So, yeah, we’ve got good ideas for what would come next."

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes will be released in theaters next year on May 24.