The latest installment in the Planet of the Apes franchise, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, directed by Wes Ball, does away with any concrete placing in the timeline, which the director defends as a brilliant choice by the writers. Taking place generations after Caesar’s death, the film follows Owen Teague’s Noa as he encounters a sentient human, played by Freya Allen’s Mae. Noa finds himself on a mission to both avenge his clan and foster a harmonious future for both apes and humans. Although the movie confirms that it is set far beyond Caesar’s era, it doesn’t specify the exact year, leaving room for interpretation.
This lack of a specific date has an intriguing impact on the audience’s understanding, even if it can be somewhat confusing. According to Ball, in an interview with TechRadar, the intent was to leave the timing open to interpretation. The timeline’s vagueness helps to solidify Caesar’s era as a realm of “myth and legend”. Ball explained, “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.”
There is no definitive way to ascertain where Kingdom fits within the Planet of the Apes timeline. Following Caesar’s funeral, the movie commences with a note that “many generations” have passed. The world has drastically transformed; apes now rule while humans have regressed to primitive states. “Many generations,” ostensibly hinting at several hundred years, would explain Los Angeles’ return to nature—a city reclaimed by wildlife.
In such a lapsed time frame, Caesar’s tale becomes more myth than history. His story has drifted into the realm of legend, as no living ape recalls a sentient human race. When Noa meets a human capable of speech and dressed accordingly, he is taken aback by the revelation. Despite the significant lapse in time, Noa is found studying Caesar’s philosophy, suggesting that Caesar’s legacy, though fragmented, continues to have a monumental impact.
Understanding Kingdom’s exact spot in the timeline proves unnecessary in an ape-dominated world. The significance of years fades, as apes perceive time differently than humans. Their shorter lifespans mean that 100 years hold a diverse weight compared to human understanding. By opting to describe events in terms of generations, Ball and the writers bridged the gap for human viewers to grasp the passage of time from an ape’s perspective. The omission of a specific date underscores the engulfing decline of mankind and the ascent of an ape-led civilization.
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