Why Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes Doesn’t Reveal Specific Timeline Date Explained By Wes Ball

Summary

• Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
  never reveals its place in the timeline.
• Director Wes Ball intended for audiences to decide for themselves when the story takes place.
• Kingdom
  is set long after Caesar’s death, and his story has devolved into legend.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes never needed any set place in the timeline, according to director Wes Ball. Taking place generations after Caesar’s death in the original Planet of the Apes reboot movies, Kingdom follows Owen Teague’s Noa as he meets a sentient human in Freya Allen’s Mae. Noa has to avenge his clan, while also trying to build a better future for apes and humans alike. Though it is confirmed that it is set long after Caesar, the exact year is never shown in the movie.

While it hardly impacts the Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes characters, the lack of any set date can be somewhat confusing. That effect is exactly what Ball wanted. In an interview with TechRadar, Ball revealed that the writers intended for the audience to interpret the time jump for themselves. Still, he notes that Caesar’s time has become the realm of “myth and legend“. Check out his full quote below:

“We never really put a date on it to be honest, which was a brilliant move on our writers’ part. I think it’s good for people to have their own interpretation of what [that time jump] is. It’s long enough that Caesar’s legacy has been lost, and that the landscape around the apes has slowly collapsed into nature. It’s enough time for myth and legend to have taken over.”

Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes’ Uncertain Timeline

Does There Need To Be A Set Timeline?

There is no way to know exactly where Kingdom takes place in the rebooted Planet of the Apes timeline. After Caesar’s funeral, the movie opens with a caption noting that it has been “many generations” since the world lost Caesar. The entire world has changed since, as apes rule everything and humanity has devolved into unintelligent primates. “Many generations” likely means that hundreds of years have passed since humanity reigned. That would make sense, given the fact that the story is set in Los Angeles, which has been reclaimed by nature and wildlife.

Because it has been so long since Caesar’s death, his story is no longer remembered with any historical accuracy. The time of human achievement has become a time of legend, as no living ape can remember a sentient human species. When Noa comes across a human who speaks and wears clothing appropriately, he is absolutely stunned by the revelation. Still, Noa is also left to study the original Caesar’s philosophy, indicating that it has not been so long that he has been forgotten or imagined as a fictional founder.

Knowing Kingdom‘s place in the timeline is not entirely necessary. In an ape-led world, the years are no longer quite as important and likely do not hold the same meaning for them as for humans. Apes live shorter lives, so 100 years would be different for apes than for humans. By choosing to describe generations, Ball and the writers ensured that humans would understand the meaning of the timeline for the apes. The loss of a date is simply one more way that Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes depicted the fall of mankind.

Source: TechRadar