What Should You Expect From The Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes Sequel

This article contains mild spoilers for Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes and Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes. 

Following the critical and commercial acclaim that has been bestowed upon the two Planet of the Apes reboot-prequel films, it’s no surprise that a third film is in the works, but where exactly will the story take us this time?

The third Planet Of The Apes movie, and it’s set to arrive in cinemas in July 2016, and Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes director Matt Reeves has already been confirmed to helm the next movie, with Andy Serkis returning to portray Caesar.

As part of the promotional tour for Dawn’s DVD and Blu-ray release, Matt Reeves has been chatting to Nerdist about what to expect from the next film. And it sounds as if war is ahead.

In Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, Reeves notes that Caesar “goes from humble beginnings to becoming a revolutionary”, whereas “in Dawn, he rose to the occasion of becoming a leader, a great leader in really challenging difficult times”.  So where next? Well, “the notion of what we’re after in the third is continue that trajectory to how he becomes the seminal figure in ape history and almost becomes sort of like an ape Moses of sorts, a kind of mythic ascension. We’re trying to play out those themes and try to explore it in this universe of exploring human nature under the guise of apes”.

Chatting to Collider, Reeves got more specific, adding that the next film will feature the situation that’s “exactly what he was trying to avoid. The oncoming war is what Dawn was all about avoiding and it wasn’t avoided, so what does that mean to him as a character and how will he lead his people through this – or his apes through this?”

Production on the new Planet Of The Apes movie will begin in the first half of next year.