Daze

Steve Asbell (head of 20th Century Studios btw) called the next Planet of the Apes movie a sequel not even 3 months before the report saying the movie is not a sequel.

There is this article from February 2025 where Wes Ball is interviewed about the future of the Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes trilogy, and this part caught my eye.

"But there are other projects that are also in the wings, too."

OTHER projects? Other POTA projects? Like the Matt Shakman movie? Did he mean something else? Am I reading too much into this? (What stage of grief is this? Denial?) Someone please tell me why I could be wrong.

I did wonder if he had meant his own projects like Zelda, but the whole interview was about POTA only. And the interview was not just between Wes Ball and the interviewer, but others involved in the POTA movies as well, including Erik Winquist. It feels odd for him to be talking about POTA, something they ALL worked on, then to talk about projects only he works on like Zelda.

And maybe this is a reach, but his comments also gave me the impression that there are lots of ideas they want to explore but that would be too much to fit into Kingdom. Therefore side movies and spinoffs have always been the plan so they could explore those other ideas that won't fit into Kingdom?

Here is the article link BTW lol.

"After over two years of radio silence on the film, many people were beginning to wonder if it was ever going to actually happen."

So. You know. Looks like these movies just like to make us wait, lol.

You know what'd be nice for the 2 year anniversary? Some sequel news.

Chapter 7

Author's Note: We finally meet Armando in this chapter. His character has been crawling around in my head for about 2 years, so I'm happy he gets to show up now. Even got a bit teary eyed writing this 🥹

Description: "The world is advancing, and determined not to be left behind, Noa sets out to bring electricity to his village despite the opposition from his clan's Elders. Mae has returned to her base in New Mexico and successfully delivered the SATCOM key, but in the wake of her recent victory, Mae now has to face what she's been running away from ever since she volunteered for the mission, and make amends with the people she cares about."

Chapters (7/?)

I know the POTA fandom is in a bit of a drought, so I've decided to share more of my rambles on Tumblr instead of just Discord. Who knows? Might interest someone.

But ANYWAYS, I am convinced the creators behind Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes were inspired by the Kazakh eagle hunters of Mongolia.

My proof? This documentary film called The Eagle Huntress.

This film follows the story of 13 year old Aisholpan, who is determined to become the first female eagle hunter.

Get this though. There is a scene where she literally has to climb a mountain to reach the golden eagle's nest so she can get her own eaglet. There is even the threat of the eagle mother circling above, just like during Noa's climb to Top Nest.

I had originally watched this documentary in the hopes it might give me some ideas for Eagle Clan for fic writing purposes, but I was so shocked when I got to this scene. It was straight out of Kingdom! Or perhaps it was the other way around!

There were a few other details about the eagle hunters that caught my eye. According to the documentary, eagle hunters release their eagles to the wild after seven years of service. Would Eagle Clan do the same for their eagles? I can totally see them doing that.

Another thing I learned is how the eagle hunters use their eagles to catch prey like foxes. The human hunter rides high enough for the eagle to get a good view of the prey. The human then removes the eagle's hood, the eagle spots the prey, and the human releases the eagle in the hopes the eagle will catch the prey. I'd upload a video of the hunt, but it was already tricky enough uploading the first video here, lol.

We already see in Kingdom that the eagles can hunt for food for the apes, like that eagle that caught a fish and delivered it to Dar. So I wondered if Eagle Clan would also hunt with eagles on horseback like in the documentary.

Another thing though. Eagle hunting is only for men, which was why Aisholpan was the first female eagle hunter. It did get me thinking though if Eagle Clan would do something similar? I knowwww it kinda sucks to think of Eagle Clan being patriarchal of sorts, but I'm thinking something more like the Avatar films where while some roles and activities like hunting are mostly done by men, women can participate to.