Wes Ball hints at intense future for Planets of the Apes franchise after wild ending

Now if you were left with a few questions at the end of the Kingdom of the Planets of the Apes, you are not alone.

The last time we visited the Planet of the Apes universe, we followed the story of Caesar (played by Andy Serkis), and saw him rise as an intelligent ape, bring forward the dawn of ape dominance and go to war with the remaining humans... (see what I did there).

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes jumps forward years and we see the influence and legacy Caesar has left behind as apes and humans struggle to co-exist.

The latest addition to the franchise focuses on a band of new characters and ends on quite an intriguing note - leaving many fascinated about the future.

---SPOILERS BELOW---

But for a brief recap, Noa and his clan join together to stand up to the big bad Proximus Caesar and use their close bond with their eagles to emphasise one of the most important messages the legendary Caesar passed down: ‘Apes Strong Together’.

However, while that plotline is tightly wound up, the mutual alliance between Mae and Noa is strained after one final betrayal.

Although the pair do meet again, once Noa’s tribe has returned home, a shot showing Mae secretly holding a pistol in case her conversation with Noa doesn’t go quite to plan, shows that those damn dirty humans can't be trusted.

But this moment does perfectly capture the uneasy trust between humans and apes and Wes Ball has revealed to us that future instalments will look deeper into this.

The mutual alliance between Mae and Noa is strained to say the least after a final betrayal. (20th Century Studios)

So it looks like fans can expect a lot more ape vs man drama going forward.

As well this, Mae returning to her group of other non-vocally challenged humans (it sounds odd to say, but you know what I mean), does give us a final look into the progress these humans have made, generations on from the virus that has brought our species to its knees the last time we had a Planet of the Apes film.

Speaking to UNILAD, Ball praised the film’s writers for their well thought out plan - notably Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver - and gave hints about what is to come.

Wes Ball praised the film’s writers for their well thought out plan. (20th Century Studios)

“Nothing is written in stone, of course, but even as we were making this film, we had pretty clear ideas of where we ultimately want to go in the next one” Ball said.

So, a sequel is certainly the intended plan and it seems like the writers have

bigger plans for Noa and his ape-folk.

“With Rick and Amanda, you know their producers on this movie and they also wrote Rise of the Planet of the Apes and worked on Dawn and War of the Planet of the Apes, they described early on that [the] Ceaser story is a story of Pinocchio to Moses." Ball said.

Ball assured there are big plans for its sequels.(20th Century Studios)

“So, we are thinking about that here, about where we ultimately want to go with Noa, Mae and these characters we meet along the way and how that ultimately fits in this larger thing of Planet of the Apes.

“There is a lot to do and theres a lot to unpack and discover and lots of good drama and conflict and you know, good movie stuff,” he added.

So, if you saw the new Planet of the Apes and thought, 'this is a bit of me', rest assured there are big plans for its sequels.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is in cinemas now.

Topics: Film and TV, Celebrity

Gerrard Kaonga

Gerrard is a Journalist at UNILAD and has dived headfirst into covering everything from breaking global stories to trending entertainment news. He has a bachelors in English Literature from Brunel University and has written across a number of different national and international publications. Most notably the Financial Times, Daily Express, Evening Standard and Newsweek.