MONARCH: LEGACY OF MONSTERS Producer Teases Surprising New Spinoff - “Holy Sh*t, This Is Not What I Expected”
Apple’s Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is a fresh new take on a genre that’s been around forever. The series dives into the lore behind Godzilla and King Kong, flashing back and forth between the past and present day, with father-son actors Kurt Russell and Wyatt Russell playing the same character, Lee Shaw, a military officer who helps establish the Monarch organization to monitor Titans.
The show’s second season kicks off next week, and a spin-off series is, according to executive producer Tory Tunnell, “going to be shot this spring.”
Tunnell sat down with ComicBook to talk about the spinoff, and revealed new details to get fans excited, teasing:
“We want all of [our spin-offs] to have different tones, different feelings. We don’t want to be repeating ourselves. We want people to see it and go, I did not expect that. I did not expect that tone. I did not expect that voice.
“I did not expect that world. And so, you know, our next show is going to be taking young Lee Shaw, played by Wyatt [Russell], and putting on behind enemy lines in the ’80s and Cold War Russia with monsters.”
According to Tunnell, the new series will have a different “personality.” The producer said she hoped to surprise audiences with the spin-off. Tunnell also offered some more details to Collider, saying:
“I think people are going to expect one thing and be like, ‘Holy sh*t, this is not what I expected.’ It’ll go deeper into Lee’s experience after he came up, and being sort of put on ice, in 1982, and then what happens after that, and why he’s needed and the mission he goes on. I’m so excited about it. More excited about that than I’ve been excited about something in a very long time.”
With Joby Harold writing and serving as showrunner, Tunnell said Monarch is not required viewing to jump into the new series, and she has positive reviews already:
“The way that they’ve dealt with and are dealing with their hand on how they infused monsters and infused the world of the MonsterVerse into a very, very, very human story, a la Monarch.
“It’s a little bit simpler because it’s less people. It’s less focused on a past and more focused on a present experience, mission, goal. But Joby has fused these elements so, so, so well, and I’m just excited.”
Luckily, even with the new spin-off coming, Tunnell says that Monarch isn’t going anywhere, and they have big ideas for several more seasons, with countless stories to tell from this world.
“There’s always endless story,” Tunnell said. “Of course, it’s always up to audiences to, you know, make it worth everyone’s time to, to do it again and to show up and see the show.”
Are you looking forward to diving deeper into this universe? Monarch: Legacy of Monsters season 2 is set to premiere on Apple TV+ on February 27th.