The new Apple TV+ series
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters
stars father-and-son acting duo Kurt Russell and Wyatt Russell as the older and younger versions of the same character in a timeline-switching, multi-generational mystery. But don’t worry, this isn’t a family saga of the prestige television variety: it’s a good old-fashioned monster fest set in a fictional universe where Godzilla and King Kong both exist.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters
takes place in the “MonsterVerse,” Legendary Entertainment’s ongoing franchise which began with 2014’s
Godzilla. Since then there have been three subsequent movies—
Kong: Skull Island, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, and
Godzilla
v. Kong—as well as the animated series
Skull Island.
But don’t worry: you don’t need to watch every single previous installment of this ever-expanding series to enjoy
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. Here’s everything you need to get ready for the new show.
What to watch in order to understand the new TV series:
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters
begins in the immediate aftermath of the climactic battle between Godzilla and the MUTO/kaiju monsters in San Francisco at the end of the 2014
Godzilla movie. In fact, the first episode of the show is entitled “Aftermath,” and follows a survivor of the “G-Day” incident as she investigates old family secrets and discovers a surprising link to the mysterious Monarch organization.
This means that even though
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters
was released nearly a decade after
Godzilla, it is a direct sequel to that movie, making it the only one you have to watch to prepare for the TV series.
Philip Ellis is News Editor at
Men’s Health, covering fitness, pop culture, sex and relationships, and LGBTQ+ issues. His work has appeared in GQ, Teen Vogue, Man Repeller and MTV, and he is the author of
Love & Other Scams.