Kurt & Wyatt Russell Are Co-Starring In A New GODZILLA Series
(THR) Kurt and Wyatt Russell have been cast in the series, which is set in the world of Legendary’s Monsterverse franchise. Details on their roles are being kept quiet at the moment.The father and son join a cast that also includes Pachinko star Anna Sawai, Ren Watabe, Kiersey Clemons, Joe Tippett and Elisa Lasowski.
The untitled series is set in the aftermath of the battle between Godzilla and the Titans that decimated San Francisco (as depicted in 2014’s Godzilla, which launched the film franchise). It will follow a family’s journey to uncover its buried secrets and a legacy linking them to the secret organization known as Monarch.
Chris Black (Outcast, Star Trek: Enterprise) and Matt Fraction (Hawkeye) co-created the series, with Black serving as showrunner. Matt Shakman (WandaVision) is set to direct the first two episodes. All three will executive produce along with Safehouse Pictures’ Joby Harold and Tory Tunnell, as well as Hiro Matsuoka and Takemasa Arita of Toho Co. Ltd., which owns Godzilla and other monster characters and has licensed them to Legendary.
Godzilla is an interesting franchise to me. Monster/Kaiju fights will always play with me whether it is Pacific Rim or Cloverfield, but the franchise has done a bad job at building around the monsters so far. Basically, there are too many humans that nobody cares about and not NEARLY enough monster fights. This is where the medium of a series really intrigues me.
The biggest pro is that you have a lot more room to flesh out characters and tell an almost serial-type story about monster fights.
The biggest con is simple: Money. 'Godzilla vs Kong' had close to a $200 million price tag. TV just isn't going to match that type of dough, and that means the effects work might suffer. However, Apple TV+ might be the one streaming service other than Amazon Prime willing to dish out the money that this series deserves. After all, they did spend nearly $300 Million on 2 seasons of the incredibly mid Morning Show.
What makes me the most pumped for this though, is having Wyatt + Kurt Russell together for the first time since Wyatt played the younger version of Kurt in the underrated 'Soldier'. We all know Kurt is a legend, but Wyatt is quickly becoming one of the better actors in the game. He recently CRUSHED it in 'Under the Banner of Heaven', which we interviewed him for.
I'm just guessing based off the synopsis that Kurt and Wyatt will be the ones exploring their link to Monarch as a father and son which rocks. Apple TV+ had a VERY rocky start, but they have been stepping it up big time with stuff like 'Ted Lasso', 'For All Mankind','Severance' and maybe this.