The film will reportedly not be a sequel to 2024’s “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.”

Fantastic hire: New *Planet of the Apes *movie is in the works with *First Steps *director

The film will reportedly not be a sequel to 2024's "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes."

By Derek Lawrence

Derek Lawrence

Derek Lawrence is a former associate editor at **. He left EW in 2022.

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May 6, 2026 7:03 p.m. ET

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Owen Teague as Noa in 'Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes'. Credit:

20th Century Studios

- A new *Planet of the Apes* movie is on the way.

- *Fantastic Four: First Steps* director Matt Shakman will helm the film.

- The new installment will reportedly not be a sequel to 2024's *Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes*.

The reign of the apes will continue.

Another *Planet of the Apes* movie is officially in the works, and *The Fantastic Four: First Steps* director Matt Shakman will helm the new picture, EW has confirmed.

Shakman's hiring is a reunion with writer Josh Friedman. Shakman and Friedman collaborated on *Fantastic Four*, and Friedman wrote the previous *Apes* installment, 2024's *Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes*. And while Friedman will return to craft the latest *Apes* script, this won't be a *Kingdom* sequel, according to *Deadline*, which first reported the news.

Matt Shakman at 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps' 2025 premiere.

Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

Directed by Wes Ball, *Kingdom* was the 10th film in the *Apes *franchise, as well as the fourth entry in the reboot series that kicked off with 2011's *Rise of the Planet of the Apes*.

But *Kingdom* picked up generations after the end of its predecessor, introducing new ape and human characters. The film focused on young chimp Noa (Owen Teague) and a mysterious woman named Mae (Freya Allan). The conclusion of *Kingdom* set up the possibility of a sequel, and Ball seemed more than game.

How to watch the 'Planet of the Apes' movies in order, from the 1968 original to the recent reboots

'Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes' sets the stage for sequels

"We certainly think there is a lot more story to be told, not just in the *Planet of the Apes* legacy of it all, but in terms of these characters we’ve created and the arcs that we're thinking about," he previously told EW. "So, yeah, we’ve got good ideas for what would come next."

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But Ball has since moved on to direct a *Legend of Zelda* film adaptation, and with no news yet on the future of *The Fantastic Four* franchise (outside of the characters' appearance in *Avengers: Doomsday*), Shakman now slides in as the head of *Apes.*

Shakman is no stranger to powerful creatures threatening humanity's existence, considering he is a director and producer of Apple TV's Godzilla series* Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.*

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