This compelling supernatural sci-fi series, available Friday, Nov. 17, on Apple TV+, is set in a world where Godzilla exists and everyone knows it.
In Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Keiko (Mari Yamamoto), who lived through a Godzilla attack in San Francisco, shows up in Japan looking for her missing father and stumbles upon a secret so dangerous she must go on the run with a family member she never knew about and a former friend of her father’s, Col. Lee Shaw, played by Kurt Russell in present times and his son Wyatt Russell in flashbacks (which may well be the highlight of the series).
Even if you’ve never seen a Godzilla movie, you’ll instantly be hooked by the show’s characters and unfolding mystery elements; it’s sort of like Stranger Things for adults. You don’t need to be well-versed in Godzilla to follow the origin story, either; however, if you do want to see the entire scope of the Monsterverse, this series follows the films Godzilla (2014), Kong: Skull Island (2017), Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) and Godzilla vs. Kong (2021).
In the end, like all great television, it’s more about the characters.
“We tend to be focused on Godzilla and Kong and be up there in the clouds with the giant creatures,” said executive producer Matt Shakman, who directed the first two episodes. “This is about generations of a family that were connected to the story, and about legacy; about what’s passed on from generation to generation. I think it has a very strong emotional story.”
