Apple TV+ drama Monarch: Legacy of Monsters – Kurt Russell and son Wyatt Russell light up MonsterVerse history that will have Godzilla fans rejoicing

It is an exciting time to be a Godzilla fan. The King of the Monsters, who first appeared on screens in 1954, will be a ubiquitous presence in the coming months, with no less than three different incarnations of the character lumbering into view between now and next Easter.

In Japan Godzilla Minus One, the 37th film in the franchise, directed by Takashi Yamazaki, took the box office by storm last weekend, raking in more than 1 billion yen (US$6.6 million) in its first three days.

In April 2024, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire hits cinemas. It’s the fifth feature in Legendary Pictures’ complementary MonsterVerse franchise, which began with 2014’s Godzilla.

Eager viewers need not wait until spring 2024, however, as Monarch: Legacy of Monsters launches on November 17 on Apple TV+. The second MonsterVerse show after the animated Skull Island on Netflix, this new 10-episode series lays out the history of Monarch, the secret organisation tasked with monitoring Godzilla and the other Titans.

Spanning 60 years and three generations of characters, the show attempts to join the dots between the earliest sightings in the early 1950s and the chaos that unfolded in the San Francisco attack of 2014 – an event now referred to as G-Day.

Fans of Apple’s prestige period drama Pachinko will recognise a number of cast members here, most notably Anna Sawai, who takes centre stage as Cate Randa, a Japanese-American middle-school teacher who survived G-Day.

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One year on, she travels to Tokyo to settle the affairs of her father, who is presumed dead. On arrival, she is blindsided by the revelation that her father had a second family, news equally traumatic for the wife (Qyoko Kudo) and son, Kentaro (Ren Watabe), Cate finds there.

The lies continue when it becomes apparent that their father was not a mild-mannered scientist, but worked for Monarch.

After discovering a cache of secret files, Cate and Kentaro, together with Kentaro’s friend May (Kiersey Clemons) – a tech-savvy American expat – go on the run, pursued by government agents yet determined to learn the truth behind Monarch, G-Day and their father’s fate.

Their path eventually leads them to ageing US military officer Lee Shaw (Kurt Russell).

Anna Sawai as Cate Randa in a still from “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters”. Photo: Apple TV+.

Simultaneously, the story jumps back to the 1950s, where scientists Keiko (Mari Yamamoto) and Bill Randa (Anders Holm) are exploring bizarre natural anomalies in far-flung corners of Southeast Asia.

Granted a military escort in the form of a young officer Shaw (played here by Kurt’s son, Wyatt Russell), the trio quickly become a tight-knit unit navigating treacherous post-war hotspots and unearthing evidence of huge ancient creatures that will become known as MUTOs, or Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms.

Of the two unfolding narratives, this second strand is by far the more rewarding.

Anders Holm (left) as Bill Randa and Mari Yamamoto as Keiko in a still from “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters”. Photo: Apple TV+

While Keiko and Bill are quickly established as a couple (and Cate’s grandparents), there is palpable tension between the Japanese scientist and her army escort, which adds spice to their subsequent negotiations with a US military eager to explore the limits of its newly acquired atomic capabilities.

Conversely, the more awkward dynamic unfolding in 2015 often slows the pace of the show.

Cate’s single-minded search for her father often feels like it is spinning its wheels to help pad out episodes, while Kentaro is a dull and forgettable character. His apparent romantic history with May never rings true, while May’s own shady backstory is kept too deep in the shadows to become genuinely compelling.

Wyatt Russell as a young Lee Shaw in a still from “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters”. Photo: Apple TV+
Thankfully, the introduction of Kurt Russell is a welcome shot in the arm, not to mention the show’s biggest draw for anyone not immediately enticed by giant CGI monsters.

The casting gimmick of father and son playing the same character works a treat, and also fuels a running joke about exactly how old Russell senior’s Shaw is supposed to be. Effortless charisma and screen presence clearly run in the family, as the material is elevated whenever either Russell is on screen.

Of course, the burning question is how well Monarch: Legacy of Monsters delivers on the proposition of its title. Based on the first five episodes we have watched, Godzilla sightings are relatively sparse, relegated to a few traumatic flashbacks to the destruction of G-Day as well as to an engagement in the Pacific Ocean many years earlier.

Ren Watabe (left) as Kentaro and Kiersey Clemons as his friend May in a still from “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters”. Photo: Apple TV+

Other MUTOs do make an appearance, however, including a memorable frost-breathing behemoth marauding across the wintry wastes of Alaska.

This should really come as no surprise. One need only look at Marvel’s television output on Disney+ to realise that these streaming shows prioritise world-building and character development over grand spectacle and pyrotechnics, which rightfully remain reserved for the franchise’s big-screen outings.

Nevertheless, fans of the MonsterVerse will probably concede that the franchise was in need of some explanatory information about Monarch, its motives and exactly how much it knows about Titans, the Hollow Earth, and Skull Island.

This show at least attempts to restore some of those redacted secrets.

A still from “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters”. Photo: Apple TV+

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters will start streaming on Apple TV+ on November 17.

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