Where Matt Reeves Would Take The APES Series Next

War for the Planet of the Apes comes out this week, and it is a truly incredible example of what summer tentpole filmmaking can offer. Which puts a little sting into the fact that director Matt Reeves is moving onto Batman.

But that doesn't mean he's leaving Apes forever. In an interview with Fandango, Reeves claims he’d love to return to the franchise. Not only that, but he knows where he would like to take the story next:

“When [co-writer] Mark [Bomback] and I came up with the idea for Bad Ape in War, that was to imply the idea that there would be apes out there in the world that Caesar and his apes knew nothing of, and that they wouldn’t have had the benefit of Caesar's leadership and the values that he had instilled in his community,” he said. “That future conflicts in this kind of epic journey that takes us toward the '68 movie without necessarily ever getting there could be about conflicts between apes, not just conflicts between humans and apes. And so, to me there are many more exciting stories to be told, and I would love to tell those stories.”

Bad Ape is one of War’s best elements (man, this series has such a rich cast of supporting ape characters), and while this doesn’t necessarily mean Bad Ape himself will return, his backstory in War does indicate a whole different side of this world that’s gone mostly unexplored in Caesar’s story.

In other words, I would very much welcome all of this and hope it eventually comes to pass. Reeves talks a bit about eventually connecting this series to the originals chronologically, but I’m totally fine if that never happens and we keep exploring the Apes “present” instead.

Above all, don’t miss out on War this weekend. It’s really something special.

And of course, don't forget to grab your copy of our amazing Planet of the Apes magazine!