Did you catch the end credits tease in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes?
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is now playing in theaters, and the film is currently up on Rotten Tomatoes with an 80% critics score after 212 reviews. ComicBook’s Spencer Perry gave the film a 4 out of 5, and called it “a grand time, and a worthy follow-up.” The new movie takes place hundreds of years after the events of the previous trilogy, and while the characters may be new, a lot of folks behind the scenes are no strangers to the world of Apes. ComicBook recently had the chance to chat with some of the Wētā FX team members who brought the film to life, including Visual Effects Supervisor, Erik Winquist. During the interview, Winquist was joined by VFX Producer Danielle Immerman and Animation Supervisor Paul Story, and they talked about how the previous films helped the production of Kingdom. During the chat, we also brought up some major deaths in the film. Warning: Spoilers Ahead!
In the film, the loveable orangutan Raka (Peter Macon) was swept away by currents, and his fellow apes assumed he was dead. However, we never saw a body, and we joked to the Wētā team that we’re “Raka truthers” who think he’ll be back if the movie gets a sequel. The team laughed at the suggestion, and while they didn’t confirm Raka’s fate, they made it clear they all loved the character.
Winquist then brought up another big death in the film: Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand). The villain was thrown from a cliff by a flock of eagles, and while he did land in water, the fall looked too high to be survivable. However, if you stay through the end credits of the film, Proximus is heard laughing.
“Proximus’s death is such a satisfying end to the villain. That’s a big plus,” Winquist shared. “Did you stick around long enough?” he asked, referring to the Promixus laugh. While the laugh is certainly not a confirmation that the villain survived, our chat with the Wētā team makes us wonder if there are plans for the character’s future. Considering how end-credit scenes have become known to tease the next films, a voice in the end credits could certainly have meaning. Hopefully, the studio will greenlight a sequel, and we can find out once and for all who really died in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.
What Is Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes About?
You can read a description of the film here: “Director Wes Ball breathes new life into the global, epic franchise set several generations in the future following Caesar’s reign, in which apes are the dominant species living harmoniously and humans have been reduced to living in the shadows. As a new tyrannical ape leader builds his empire, one young ape undertakes a harrowing journey that will cause him to question all that he has known about the past and to make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike.”
The cast for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is anchored by Owen Teague (IT) as Noa, a young chimpanzee. He’s joined in the film by Kevin Duran (Locke & Key) as Proximus Caesar, a powerful chieftain that has appropriated human technology; Travis Jeffery as Anaya; Lydia Peckham as Soona, a female chimpanzee and a friend of Noa. Neil Sandilands as Koro; Peter Macon as Raka; and Freya Allan (The Witcher) as Mae, one of the few human characters to appear in the movie
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is now playing in theaters. Stay tuned for more from our interview with the VFX team behind Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. You can learn more about Wētā FX here.
