‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ Casts Dichen Lachman in Key Role, First Plot Details Emerge
The cast of the upcoming Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes keeps getting larger.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Severance actress Dichen Lachman has been cast in the next entry of the critically acclaimed franchise, which is currently filming in Australia. Details on her character are currently being kept under wraps, but she joins an ensemble that already includes Owen Teague (It) as the lead ape, Freya Allan (The Witcher) as the human lead, Peter Macon (The Orville), William H. Macy (Fargo), and Kevin Durand (Locke & Key). Lachman was last seen in the Ben Stiller-directed, Adam Scott-led series for Apple TV Plus and Colin Trevorrow’s Jurassic World: Dominion.
The trade also got a hold of the first plot details for the upcoming entry in the saga, which will be set many years after the events of War for the Planet of the Apes. Apparently, at this point in time, humans have been “reduced to a feral-like existence”, while the apes, after being led by Moses (a.k.a. Caesar) to the promised land, have begun to set up entire societies, some of which haven’t even heard of Andy Serkis’ character. Under these circumstances, two apes emerge on opposite sides. One begins to enslave other apes to have access to human technology, while the other (who we assume will be played by Owen Teague), whose clan gets taken by the antagonist, looks for freedom. Freya Allan’s human character becomes a key to the protagonist’s journey for unspecified reasons.
Wes Ball (The Maze Runner) will sit on the director’s chair for this one, taking over from Matt Reeves, who helmed the previous two entries in the franchise. He’s been developing this film for Disney for over three years, working with VFX teams from very early on in the process while simultaneously leading a writers’ room that included Josh Friedman, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, and Patrick Aison. After a lengthy and symbiotic pre-production process, cameras finally started rolling in late 2022, following the title announcement as well as the release of the first concept art image for the film, which you can see below.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes will debut in theaters on May 24, 2024.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
