Godzilla is the King of the Monsters, and now, he shall soon take over Apple TV subscribers. A new report has gone live today confirming the MonsterVerse’s big move to television. Deadline has confirmed a live-action TV series is in the works for Godzilla, and it will help expand Godzilla’s domain in a unique new way.
According to Deadline, this landmark deal will bring Legendary’s pre-existing franchise to Apple TV+. The untitled series will follow one family’s journey through a world where titans exist, and they’ll come to discover their secret ties to Monarch along the way. At this point, there is no word on whether existing characters in the Godzilla films will carry into the show, but we know for sure the King of the Monsters will show up.
Legendary Television is producing the untitled TV series with Chris Black as executive producer. Matt Fraction will serve as showrunner along with Black. Toho Company will also have several members on board including Hiro Matsuoka and Takemasa Arita.
The report goes on to detail how this TV series was developed as Legendary is riding on the high of Godzilla vs Kong. The movie was one of the first to excite the global box office in a post-COVID world. Apple was said have, “immediate interest” in the pitch as its streaming service wants more established IPs.
As you can imagine, fans are clamoring over this announcement, and Godzilla will be all the better for the expansion. We first met this version of the monster in 2014 with a self-titled film. King Kong joined the franchise in 2017 before Godzilla: King of the Monsters dropped in 2019. And of course, Godzilla vs Kong is the latest release that brought the IP’s total earnings to over $2 billion globally.
This is not the only TV project that Godzilla has in the works right now. In fact, the franchise is exploring the world of anime with Netflix. The streaming service is working on Skull Island, an anime focused on King Kong and his life on the wild island. We can expect to meet even more MUTOs in the series, and the same can be said for this new live-action series.
With Apple TV+ joining the franchise, you may be wondering why Godzilla did not turn to HBO Max for this untitled series. After all, Warner Bros. Pictures and HBO Max all fall to the same company, but it turns out money became the deciding factor here. Justin Kroll of Deadline explains, “Legendary saw an opportunity to get best price by taking it to the market rather then go straight to HBO Max and from what I had heard Apple was the front-runner to land series very early on in process.” This doesn’t mean HBO Max may never pursue such a project, but for the time being, Apple TV+ and Netflix are on their own in terms of spin-offs. Either way, this means the MonsterVerse is expanding, so we’re throwing our hat in the ring for Biolante to show up ASAP.
What do you make of this huge news? Where do you want this Godzilla TV series to go? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB.