Exclusive: Planet Of The Apes Series In Development
We've exclusively learned that a Planet of the Apes series is on its way to Disney+, set in the same continuity as the current film series.
Caesar may be gone but his legacy lives on, and it won’t just live on the big screen. According to our trusted and proven sources, a Planet of the Apes series is currently in development for planned release on Disney+. The show will be set in the same narrative as the new series of films, which began with 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
It’s interesting that the Planet of the Apes series is headed for Disney+ rather than Hulu, which is where most of the now Disney-owned 20th Century Fox projects — e.g. Prey and the upcoming Alien series — have landed. One major difference between Planet of the Apes and those other franchises, of course, is the maturity level of the content. While the last three movies in the series have been violent, they’ve stayed within PG-13 limits, whereas projects from the Alien and Predator franchises are almost always more R-rated material.
One possibility is that Disney is using the upcoming Planet of the Apes series to experiment with releasing Fox projects on Disney+. If it doesn’t work out for whatever reason, the show could always be moved to Hulu, which Disney now owns.
We don’t know when in the film series timeline the Planet of the Apes show will be set, though considering the timing of the news it will likely run concurrent to the next film — Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes — which is currently set for a March 2024 release. With the show currently in development, depending on how quickly that development proceeds, a 2024/25 premiere wouldn’t be out of the question.
There’s also the fact that with Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, fans will finally be presented with a world that has the most potential for spinoff series and/or movies. The first three films show us how the titular animals began to increase in intelligence and cognition, their conflict with humanity, and how Caesar finds his people a new home. With that new home established, it opens up the potential for more stories about it to be told in a series.
Originally based on the 1963 novel La Planète des singes, the screen franchise has hit its peaks and valleys since 1968’s Planet of the Apes. The first film spawned four movie sequels, a live-action series, an animated series, and the ill-fated Tim Burton-directed reboot in 2001.
Since the film franchise was revitalized with 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes, each subsequent movie has been blessed with top notch talent including such names as Andy Serkis, Gary Oldman, James Franco, and Woody Harrelson. The last two films were directed by Matt Reeves of The Batman fame, while Wes Ball (The Maze Runner) is attached to direct the next film.
