As a big fan of the original PLANET OF THE APES franchise, I was a little leery when 20th Century Fox announced that they'd be rebooting the series, after all, Tim Burton's attempt at a reboot didn't exactly fill me with optimism. Thankfully RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES was surprisingly decent and its follow-up, DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, proved to be one of those rare sequels which was just as good, if not better, than the first. That certainly leaves WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES with some big boots to fill, but I'm sure Matt Reeves and Andy Serkis will be able to deliver.
There have been several references to the original PLANET OF THE APES movies in the reboot franchise and Entertainment Weekly reports that WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES will have one as well. One of the few friendly humans featured in the recent trailer for WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES was a young mute girl who Maurice takes a liking to, and her name will certainly be familiar to APES fans – Nova. Linda Harrison played a character by the name of Nova in both PLANET OF THE APES and BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES, and EW confirms that the Nova in WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES is indeed the same character.
WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES will take place two years after the conclusion of DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES as Caesar (Andy Serkis) and his people continue to fight against what remains of the human military. After a fearsome Colonel (Woody Harrelson) forces them to retreat into the woods, Caesar and a small group set off on a desperate mission to locate and assassinate the human leader, but with years of conflict weighing on him, Caesar has become a battle-hardened leader and is close to losing all sympathy for mankind. It's while on this mission that Caesar encounters Nova (Amiah Miller). Director Matt Reeves says that "the battle is not just between the humans and the apes, but in Caesar’s soul. The girl is his pull back to his empathy and — for lack of a better word — his human side."
WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES will hit theaters on July 14, 2017.
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