INDIANAPOLIS — Godzilla is back — along with old and new Titans from the MonsterVerse franchise.
"Monarch: Legacy of Monsters" is told across three generations — in the 1950s and a half century later — as two siblings (Anna Sawai and Ren Watabe) follow in their missing father's footsteps to uncover their family's connection to the mysterious organization, Monarch.
"What we knew we couldn't do was crunch down these epic blockbusters movies for a TV screen. We had to build a television show from the ground up," said Chris Black, showrunner and executive producer.
Present day in the 10-episode series is set after the events in the 2014 "Godzilla" film — but "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters" is an easy viewing experience for longtime and new fans.
"You don't have to have seen any of the features to come to our show and love it," said Tory Tunnell, executive producer on the series, alongside her husband, Joby Harold, through their production company Safehouse Pictures. "At the heart of it is a very juicy, family drama, and it's a globe-trotting adventure that will grab you wherever you come from and whatever you know about our world."
For the first time as adults, actors Kurt Russell ("Escape from New York," "The Thing") and his son, Wyatt Russell ("The Falcon and the Winter Soldier," "Lodge 49") star in the same project, as they portray Army officer Lee Shaw in different time periods.
"We have this important character of Lee Shaw, who's in the past, in the present, who links the past and present to the same way Godzilla does — the only human who bridges this gap," said Matt Shakman, director and executive producer. "We had lists of who could play young Lee Shaw, lists of who could play old Lee Shaw. Oh my god, there are two people on these lists who are related and bare a striking resemblance to each other."
It shouldn't come as a surprise that Godzilla and the rest of the monsters in the series are created through visual effects — but part of the actors' job is to make us believe it is really there.
"On one scene with Godzilla, we actually flew a drone from to be where his head was going to be," said Sean Konrad, visual effects supervisor. "We had a drone take off from the ground to 300 feet, so Kurt and Anna and all the rest of the cast could focus on him."
And unsurprisingly, all five members of the creative team who were interviewed chose Godzilla as their favorite monster in the MonsterVerse.
"Fiscally, I'm Godzilla. Socially, I'm Kong," said Matt Fraction, writer and executive producer.
"Monarch: Legacy of Monsters" premieres Friday, Nov. 17 on Apple TV+ with two episodes, followed by one episode per week through the season finale Jan. 12, 2024.