fire-breathing behemoth — and left everyone with plenty of questions, like: How does the

movie connect to its predecessors?

And, is Godzilla really the king, or is he just some scaly-ass poser?

Don't worry — we've got the answers you're looking for.

New faces, returning stars

A host of stars are joining the Godzilla family for King of the Monsters.

The star-studded cast includes The Conjuring franchise veteran Vera Farmiga as paleobiologist

Dr. Emma Russell, Stranger Things darling Millie Bobby Brown as Madison Russell, and

Friday Night Lights alum Kyle Chandler as animal behavior expert Dr. Mark Russell — Emma's

ex-husband.

Though there are more than a handful of new characters to meet in Godzilla: King of the

Monsters, the film doesn't go without a few returning favorites.

The actors returning for King of the Monsters include Ken Watanabe and Sally Hawkins.

Watanabe slips back into the crisp white lab coat of his Godzilla character Dr. Ishiro

Serizawa, a scientist at the crypto-zoological organization Monarch.

Hawkins will be back as Serizawa's right-hand woman Dr. Vivienne Graham.

Another actor coming back for King of the Monsters?

Godzilla himself.

Professional stuntman T.J.

Storm reprises the monstrous role in a motion-capture performance.

Family, rescue, and monsters

The vast majority of sequels use the ending of their direct precursors as a springboard

to launch into new narrative territory.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters is no exception.

Set in 2019, five years after 2014's Godzilla, King of the Monsters centers around the members

of Monarch as they go head to head with a "battery of god-sized monsters" — and by

that, we mean Godzilla and his three foes Rodan, Ghidorah, and Mothra.

Mankind once believed the "ancient super-species," collectively known as Titans, were the stuff

of fiction.

The Titans are all too real — and threaten humanity's existence when they rise to fight

for dominance.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters also sees Dr. Emma Russell and her daughter Madison get

kidnapped by a mysterious organization that wants to use Emma's intellect and inventiveness,

as well as Madison's "strange connection" with Mothra, for nefarious purposes.

Emma feels humans and Titans can co-exist peacefully, but after experiencing a great

loss, her ex-husband Mark doesn't agree.

Despite holding a negative view of the monsters, Mark teams with Monarch's Dr. Ishiro Serizawa

and Dr. Vivienne Graham to rescue Emma and Madison.

The terrible trio

Godzilla: King of the Monsters will bring Mothra, Rodan, and Ghidorah back to the big

screen, and we've got the skinny on who the three creatures are and how they'll be depicted.

A colossal moth-like being, Mothra will be both beautiful and deadly in King of the Monsters.

Director Michael Dougherty aimed to give her a realistic appearance, including long legs

that help her fight against and defend herself from her adversaries.

Rodan, on the other hand, is a pterodactyl-like monster, described by Dougherty as a "massive

A-bomb [and a] bit of a rogue" with incredible physical power.

Dougherty elaborated:

"You never quite know where his loyalties lie.

Godzilla's more of a lumbering, plodding presence; it takes him a couple of days to destroy a

city like Tokyo.

Rodan can level it without even thinking."

As for Ghidorah, the three-headed dragon beast is Godzilla's ultimate nemesis.

That each of his heads has "its own different personality" — one alpha and two "lackeys"

— makes Ghidorah even more formidable than Godzilla's other challengers.

"Good thing he's on our side."

The title of Godzilla: King of the Monsters tells audiences all they need to know about

the monster's ranking in the Titan hierarchy: he's the big kahuna, the grand poobah, the

top banana.

But what about where Godzilla stands on the hero-villain binary?

As Bradley Whitford's Dr. Stanton states in one of the film's trailers, Godzilla is on

our side," and can help save mankind from being eradicated as soon as Monarch sets him

free.

Though Godzilla isn't out to harm humans, not everyone is totally willing to consider

him the good guy.

O'Shea Jackson Jr., whose character Barnes leads Monarch's military crew, the G-Team,

told Fandango that Godzilla is a heroic protector:

"Speaking as a Godzilla fan, I always hated those humans who acted like didn't Godzilla

didn't just save their ass.

What happened in San Francisco in 2014 [in Godzilla], from what I can see, he holds down

the Pacific, so California seems safe.

So I'm down with that."

On the converse, Kyle Chandler, whose Dr. Mark Russell has a "troubled history with

the Titans," isn't a fan of any of the Titans, Godzilla included, explaining:

"They're mean, ugly, dangerous, and they've caused havoc with [Mark's] family."

Looks like some will be hesitant to bow down to the king.

That could be their undoing... or give Godzilla the chance to prove them wrong.

Past meets present

Godzilla: King of the Monsters may be as fresh as can be in terms of its time setting — taking

place in 2019, the same year of its release — but it also incorporates elements of the

past.

Talking with Fandango, director Michael Dougherty detailed that the concept of King of the Monsters

is rooted in the mythology that the world belongs to the Titans, since they were on

Earth long before humans came along.

In his words, humans are "the invasive species," and the Titans are, quote, "the old gods…

the first gods."

He also shared that King of the Monsters gives the creatures, according to him, "a more mythological,

almost biblical, backdrop" when exploring their history.

Dougherty explained:

"These creatures were once worshipped by some ancient civilization.

I really love that about the old movies that Mothra was this deity.

It really opened up the mythology."

In simple terms, King of the Monsters sees ancient mythology clash with the modern day,

bringing humans and god-like beasts together at the same point in time.

It's a union partially motivated by a childhood wish of Dougherty, who said,

"As a kid it, always bummed me out that dinosaurs never actually crossed paths [with humans].

So I'm saying f--- that."

Filling in the gaps

The five-year break between Godzilla and King of the Monsters leaves a lot of time unaccounted

for.

Though we can't say for certain whether King of the Monsters will explain the in-world

events that went down between 2014 and 2019, or how the film will address the gap, we can

assure you that another piece of Godzilla content definitely will.

As of ten days ahead of King of the Monsters' May 31st debut, fans can dig into Godzilla:

Aftershock.

The Legendary Comics-published tie-in prequel graphic novel takes place in the time after

Godzilla and before King of the Monsters and sets the stage for the sequel.

Written by Arvid Nelson with artwork by Drew Edward Johnson, Godzilla: Aftershock continues

the plot laid out in Godzilla, seeing an all-new monster, MUTO Prime, ascend from deep within

the planet and Godzilla battle an "unstoppable primal instinct" that challenges his inner

strength.

The graphic novel also introduces several characters from King of the Monsters, as Dr.

Emma Russell and the members of Monarch try to put an end to the creature and attempt

to piece together the truth behind a past tragedy "of apocalyptic proportions" that

is resurfacing again.

As Godzilla fights in a rivalry that spans as many years as the Earth has been a planet,

Emma unravels secrets beyond anyone's wildest imagination.

A meaningful message

King of the Monsters is about more than a bunch of behemoths trading blows — in fact,

it carries a message about environmentalism, the role humans play in the destruction of

planet Earth, and the importance of science in our modern society.

Director Michael Dougherty told Fandango:

"In a time when, in our current climate, where science is being constantly questioned and

targeted, the idea of creating a film where scientists are heroes, I thought was really

important."

"So you want to make Godzilla our pet?"

"No.

We would be his."

Star Vera Farmiga even described the movie as being more about environmentalism than

your average monster-filled flick, which is what drew her to the project.

An Easter egg hunt

Nowadays, you'd be hard-pressed to find a modern film that doesn't deliver fan service

in the form of Easter eggs.

They've become the norm in contemporary cinema, with audiences practically squirming in their

seats at the thought of finding every last hidden secret tucked inside a new release.

It should come as little surprise that Godzilla: King of the Monsters will continue this trend

— but what you should know about the sneaky references is that some will set up the future

of the Godzilla franchise.

Actor O'Shea Jackson Jr. told Fandango during a set visit in 2017 that he was, quote, "nerding

out really hard" over the Easter eggs in King of the Monsters, and said that fans will have

a blast trying to uncover them all.

Director Michael Dougherty piggybacked off Jackson Jr.'s remarks when he told Entertainment

Weekly that the film will also tease the introduction of another famous movie creature post-King

of the Monsters: King Kong.

Dougherty shared:

"It's not like we're bending over backwards to introduce Kong, but there's definitely

some bread crumbs."

Grab your binoculars and a basket before heading out to see King of the Monsters, as the moviegoing

experience sounds like it will double as a massive Easter egg hunt.

Shared cinematic universe

Godzilla: King of the Monsters is no average sequel.

It expands the revived world that Godzilla set up and calls back to the old-school monster

movies produced by Toho, the Japanese company responsible for 32 Godzilla films.

It also sets up a new cinematic universe packed with monsters and centered on Monarch's undertakings

that will stretch across multiple releases.

King of the Monsters not only serves as the sequel to Godzilla, but also as the next entry

in Warner Bros.' initial trio of MonsterVerse movies, which see Godzilla exist among a wide

variety of other giant super-monsters, new and old.

Additionally, director Michael Dougherty once mentioned that King of the Monsters hinges

on something of a crossover event, as the film unites the creatures featured in Toho's

classics.

Dougherty told the folks at Fandango:

"Outside of the Universal classic monster movies, Toho is one of the first companies

to pioneer the idea of a shared universe.

They were doing it long before Marvel was.

Mothra was a completely separate film from Godzilla when it started.

Same thing with Rodan.

So it kind of feels like things are coming full circle [with King of the Monsters]."

A sequel

Before Godzilla: King of the Monsters even released its first trailer, the bigwigs at

Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures announced plans for a sequel.

You know, that third entry into the studios' Godzilla trilogy, the last piece of the first

wave of MonsterVerse movies, and the film that King of the Monsters will tease with

its references to King Kong?

That one.

Aptly entitled Godzilla vs. Kong, the King of the Monsters sequel has Death Note's Adam

Wingard on board as director, with many cast members back in the fold.

The plot of Godzilla vs. Kong will center around a brutal brawl between Godzilla and

the gorilla-like monster monkey.

The film — which stars Alexander Skarsgård as "the leader of a military unit" as well

as Rebecca Hall, Jessica Henwick, Brian Tyree Henry, and more — also focuses on humanity's

fight for its future.

Monarch's mission to discover the truth about the Titans and a conspiracy that threatens

to end life on Earth continues

Make no mistake, though, there will be a clear winner of the titular battle when it all goes

down on March 13th, 2020.

As Wingard once confirmed:

"I do want people to walk away from this film feeling like, 'Okay, there is a winner.'"

"Long live the king."

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