These first-look images and our chat with co-creator Chris Black contain light spoilers for Episode 9 of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.
2024 marks the 70th anniversary of Godzilla and we’re starting the celebration off strong thanks to the highly anticipated final episodes of Apple TV+’s brilliant Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. In the lead-up to the penultimate chapter, Episode 9’s "Axis Mundi,'' we're excited to reveal exclusive first-look images of Monarch’s new location and monster, as well as insight into both from series co-creator Chris Black. So if you want to go into the episode totally blind, turn back now, but if you want a tease of what’s to come then keep reading to whet your appetite.
What Is Axis Mundi?
After the shocking ending of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Episode 8 which saw Lee Shaw (Kurt Russell) attempt to close the portal between our world and the Hollow Earth, Episode 9 will follow Lee, Cate (Anna Sawai), and May (Kiersey Clemons) as they find themselves in a surreal new location in the subterranean Hollow Earth – Axis Mundi! It takes its name from the mythological terminology for a space between heaven and Earth, and the astronomical term that describes "the axis of Earth between two celestial poles." And its creation was inspired by the crew trying to find something new and unique for the MonsterVerse's first TV show.
"We just wanted to do the best version of what we could but, that said, we were very mindful that [Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire] is coming out next year and I don't think it's a spoiler to say it involves the Hollow Earth," Black told IGN. "So we had to be careful about, you know, not stepping on their toes or spoiling or disrupting any of the story or the reveals that they want in the feature film. So, working with them, we said, 'Okay, well, we knew that Keiko had disappeared into some kind of subterranean Titan realm. What could be different that isn't going to be what you're going to see in or have already in the feature films?'"
Black looked to one of the most famous fantastical locations for inspiration when it came to reimagining a new area of the Hollow Earth for Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. "The Hollow Earth is not a small place," he said. "I tend to think of it almost like Middle-earth. There's the Shire, there's Mordor. It's a vast area with different zones and areas with their own sort of environments and ecosystems and their own cryptozoology. So with that in mind we were able to carve out a place that was unique to the show, in its own little corner of the Hollow Earth universe."
Bringing Axis Mundi to life was a collaboration between gorgeous shooting locations and the post-production team. "Most of the practical stuff was shot in the rain forest in British Columbia, but then enhanced with visual effects to give it the specific lighting and the look of a different realm," Black said. "Working with Sean Conrad, our visual effects supervisor, and director Andy Goddard who shot Episodes 9 and 10, and Caroline Hanania, who's our brilliant production designer. And we came up with something that looks otherworldly and felt unique to us while still feeling like it could exist within the larger realm of the Hollow Earth as seen in the features."
What Is Monarch's New Monster, the Brambleboar?
While humans are at the heart of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, as the title hints - and fans know - the creatures are the driving force behind the series. In Episode 9, fans will meet another new addition to the sprawling canon of the MonsterVerse, which we've got a chilling first look at here. Cate comes across the Brambleboar as she struggles to find the others in the depths of Axis Mundi, and, as you can see in our exclusive images, it's an imposing beast.
When it came to creating the fearsome creature, the creative team worked alongside Legendary and their in-house mythology team to come up with something truly terrifying. "The mythology team is led by this wonderful guy named Barnaby Legg who is kind of the keeper of all things MonsterVerse," Black shared. "When we're writing we don't think up the names for these things, we're coming up with, like,'What would be an interesting creature? What would be something that would be terrifying and threatening that Cate could encounter when she arrives?'
"The next step we have is usually with the director and with Sean Conrad, who worked on Godzilla 2014. He knows the MonsterVerse inside and out. He knows kind of the canon of creatures that have already been created." The team looked to real-life bugs and insects to draw inspiration from what Black described as a "pseudo-logical basis" and then they'd just "go nuts with it."
The Brambleboar's unique look was envisioned by one of the show's concept artists who came up with the idea of it being covered in antlers, with plant-like growths covering its body. It was a design that struck the team as "cool" and then it was all about taking it to Legendary.
"It became this discussion of, okay, if we're adding these creatures to the larger canon and it's gonna hang up on the wall with Godzilla and Kong and the Skull Crawlers, then what are we going to call it?" Black said. "Then you have those conversations about, you know, what's a good name? How does it fit into the taxonomy of the larger world. And I and I have to give a lot of credit to Barnaby and the mythology team for coming up with these really cool names for things. It's really a testament to how seriously they take this world, that this universe needs to be consistent and they put up guardrails for us in the best possible way, never telling us what we can or can't do. But making sure that we're all sort of playing within the same world. They let us play in their sandbox as long as we promised we wouldn't break their toys."
Be sure to check back right here after Episode 9 drops for more on the big reveals of the latest Monarch installment!
Rosie Knight is a contributing freelancer for IGN covering everything from anime to comic books to kaiju to kids movies to horror flicks. She has over half a decade of experience in entertainment journalism with bylines at Nerdist, Den of Geek, Polygon, and more.
