“For me, no. That’s what I wasn’t interested in doing,” Ball said. “I appreciate some people want that but for me it’s so wrought with dangerous waters to tread into because you’ll always be compared to the previous movies and all that kind of stuff.”
Cornelius was last seen as an infant in War’s final moments when his father, Caesar ( Andy Serkis ), dies from his wounds after leading the apes to the peaceful oasis. Before his death, however, Caesar’s close confidant, Maurice, promises to share his epic story with his son.
Ball added that his decision to tell a fresh story decades after War was to avoid tampering with a trilogy that had “such good closure.” Instead, the director chose to revisit the world of the apes where parts of Caesar’s legacy are rediscovered by new ape hero Noa ( Owen Teague ) and distorted by the villain Proximus ( Kevin Durand ). Despite Cornelius’ absence, Ball teased how Disney and 20th Century Studios could make a potential prequel about his life to bridge the gap between Planet of the Apes movies.
“So, there’s certainly room for someone somewhere to do some of that story – that exists somewhere,” Ball continued. “But for us, we thought the right move was to kind of get some distance from those movies and see how we can start fresh with what was very strong roots. That felt right for us.”
What happens in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes?
The official synopsis reads: “Director Wes Ball breathes new life into the global, epic, franchise set several generations in the future following Caesar’s reign, in which apes are the dominant species living harmoniously and humans have been reduced to living in the shadows. As a new tyrannical ape leader builds his empire, one young ape undertakes a harrowing journey that will cause him to question all that he has known about the past and to make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike.”
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