Once a staple of blockbuster and science fiction filmmaking and one of the greatest film franchises of all-time, the Planet of the Apes series returned to prominence in the 2010s. Though the series seemed DOA after Tim Burton’s disastrous remake, advances in visual effects and motion capture technology made them easier to realize for modern movies. As a result, we got a trilogy of Planet of the Apes movies with Andy Serkis at the center, which brought in over a $1.5 billion at the global box office. Though Serkis’ Caesar died at the end of the series, the films continued, with 2024’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes confirming there was still gas in the tank.

Since the release of that film, which was set hundreds of years after 2017’s War for the Planet of the Apes, the iconic series has been somewhat on ice. Though reports popped up about when a new film may arrive, nothing concrete was confirmed until now. Deadline brings word that the next movie in the Planet of the Apes series has not only found a writer, but a director, and they’re both Marvel favorites. According to the trade, The Fantastic Four: First Steps writer Josh Friedman and director Matt Shakman are set to take on the next film in the Apes series. Though good news for the series, there’s bad as well, with the trade reporting that the new movie will seemingly be its own story and not pick up from the last film.

New Planet of the Apes Movie Finds Director (And New Story Direction)

It shouldn’t be a surprise that Josh Friedman will pen the next film in the Apes series, as he wrote 2024’s Kingdom as well. Shakman signing on to direct the next installment, however, is good news for the series as it means that the film will have a filmmaker with major blockbuster and VFX experience under his belt at the helm. After his work on Fantastic Four: First Steps, which included motion capture work for The Thing, but also the Emmy-nominated WandaVision, he clearly knows how to direct major projects set in giant franchises. This is further confirmed by Shakman’s other TV work, including Game of Thrones, The Boys, and Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.

Though unconfirmed, it’s quite surprising that the new Planet of the Apes movie won’t pick up the ending left behind by 2024’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. At the end of that film, Freya Allan’s Mae returns to a colony of hidden humans in an underground military base, having retrieved an item to turn on global satellite communication. The film ends with the reveal that there are pockets of humanity still alive and thriving around the world, and now they can coorindate together to try and take back the planet from the apes. According to today’s report, the new film will be a “new original story” in the franchise.

To put it bluntly, this is a major cliffhanger for the series to leave hanging and unaddressed, especially given the history of the Planet of the Apes franchise. As fans may recall, the original films in the series all ended in a way that made a sequel seem impossible, but they were made anyway. 1970’s Beneath the Planet of the Apes, for example, concluded with the titular world exploding, only for Escape from the Planet of the Apes to be released the very next year. Leaving a thread like this open is bad for the series’ storytelling, and goes against its traditions.

In addition to the dissapointment that the new film will kickstart its own take on the series, there are two downsides to today’s news that have nothing to do with the film itself. The first is that Matt Shakman has previously been linked to major movies in the past, only to have to depart the projects down the road. Back in 2017, Shakman was attached to a “live-action/hybrid” film adaptation of The Phantom Tollbooth only to depart it a year later, and was linked to a new Star Trek film in 2021, dropping out the next year in favor of the MCU’s Fantastic Four.

On that note, the second potential downside, is what Shakman’s involvement in Apes means for the future of the Fantastic Four. Marvel has not yet confirmed any talks about a proper sequel to The Fantastic Four: First Steps, but the characters are set to appear in Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars before that, meaning another film with Marvel’s first family is at least a few years away. As a result, the timeline could work out that Shakman has to choose between the two at some point, be it another Fantastic Four or a new Apes.

The funniest coincidence about Shakman being tapped for the new Apes movie, though, is that Marvel Comics is currently publishing the crossover miniseries Planet of the Apes vs. Fantastic Four, colliding to the two franchises in their first meeting.