Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes director Wes Ball confirms new trilogy

The director of the upcoming sequel to the Planet of the Apes series has confirmed the possibility of further movies in the franchise.

Speaking with Empire, director Wes Ball and producer Joe Hartwick Jr. have confirmed that the upcoming film Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes was always intended to be the next chapter in a brand new trilogy of monkey mayhem. While Ball is unsure if he will be involved with further installments of the series, he confirmed that he was in talks with the studio "about the next story."

He also suggested that while the former trilogy was about "the end of humanity," this new trilogy will be "very much about the beginning of something." This new film will be set 300 years after the ending of the rebooted Apes continuity that began with 2011's Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which saw Andy Serkis' Caesar lead his kind toward becoming the more predominant species on Earth.

Currently scheduled for release in May of next year, this new entry will introduce a fresh ape protagonist with Owen Teague's Noa, a young chimpanzee who will embark on a dangerous journey with a feral human to stop a Tyrannical Ape leader and learn more about Ceasar's legacy.

While these new films will most likely have a core focus on Noa's character the same way the previous ones focused on Ceasar's story, the time jump makes it possible for fans to see a story that more closely resembles that of the original films, although told in reverse order.