Will The Modern Planet Of The Apes Movies Ever Introduce Time Travel?

The mythology of the Planet of the Apes franchise is built on time travel, but it seems unlikely that the more grounded modern-day reboot series will ever utilize that plot point. Although it’s a lot weirder than blockbuster sci-fi properties like Transformers and The Avengers, Planet of the Apes has endured as a popular franchise for over half a century. The series keeps evolving to keep up with the times. The original series captured the zany zeitgeist of the New Hollywood ‘70s, while the grittier reboot movies of the 2010s and 2020s are more in line with modern big-budget fare.

With its most recent entry, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, the franchise has reconciled the grittiness of the modern reboots with the more traditional premise of the original series. It seems that the producers are aiming to get back to the storytelling style of the early Planet of the Apes movies. It continues the timeline of the reboot trilogy, but takes place in a familiar far-flung future ruled by warring ape factions. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes has set the stage for more sequels, but will those sequels embrace the series’ time travel?

The Planet Of The Apes Franchise’s History With Time Travel Explained

Time Travel Has Come Up In A Few Planet Of The Apes Movies

Time travel formed the basis of the shocking twist ending of the original Planet of the Apes movie. All throughout the film, Charlton Heston’s astronaut character George Taylor has been under the assumption that he landed on an alien planet 300 lightyears away from Earth. According to the ship’s chronometer, the year is 3978, more than 2,000 years after their mission began in 1972. One of the astronauts is dead, having aged rapidly after his hibernation pod was damaged. All signs point to time dilation sending their ship into the distant future.

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Planet Of The Apes (1968) Ending, Explained

The 1968 original adaptation of Planet of the Apes was a sci-fi cinematic event, but the classic movie’s ending left viewers with a lot of questions.

At the end of the movie, Taylor finds the remnants of the destroyed Statue of Liberty on a beach and realizes he’s not on an alien planet; he’s on Earth, long after it was devastated by an apocalyptic nuclear war. This is the crux of the Planet of the Apes franchise’s flirtation with time travel, but it’s not the only instance of time travel in the series. Beneath the Planet of the Apes revealed that a different astronaut, Brent, unwittingly followed Taylor into the future. Escape from the Planet of the Apes sent Zira and Cornelius back to present-day America.

In Tim Burton’s 2001 Planet of the Apes remake, Mark Wahlberg’s Leo manages to get back into space and fly through the same electromagnetic storm that sent him into the future, sending him back to the past. However, he lands on an alternate version of Earth dominated by apes. The Lincoln Memorial is a monument to the villainous General Thade and all the cops, firefighters, and journalists are talking apes. Planet of the Apes has a long history of sending its characters back and forth across the timeline. But it’s been a while since that plot point was used.

Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes Rebooted The Franchise With A Grounded Take

The Reboot Rewrote The Franchise’s History

In 2011, Rise of the Planet of the Apes rebooted the franchise with a grounded approach. Gritty reboots were in vogue at the time, thanks to Christopher Nolan’s acclaimed Batman trilogy. The success of Batman Begins led to gritty reinventions of the James Bond, Superman, Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, and The Mummy franchises. The trend also affected Planet of the Apes, as 20th Century Fox went back to fill in the origins of the ape-dominated world in a relatively grounded and realistic way. It wasn’t a prequel to the original movies; it was a complete reimagining.

In Rise of the Planet of the Apes, scientists testing an Alzheimer’s treatment on apes accidentally turned them into hyperintelligent revolutionaries. The apes broke out of the testing facility, battled the human race, and took over the Earth. This completely changed the origin story of the eponymous planet of the apes. In the original series, a time-traveling ape is what caused the whole thing in a paradox. Rise of the Planet of the Apes hinted at the first manned mission to Mars, setting up a future storyline similar to the original movie, but that tease went nowhere.

Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes Teased The Astronauts (But They Aren’t Here Yet)

The Movie Ended With Noa Looking Up At The Stars

At the end of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, the movie hinted that time-traveling astronauts could show up at some point in the franchise’s future. Throughout the film, there’s a lot of talk about technology and how it could be used by the surviving humans to defeat the oppressive apes. Mae travels to a hidden settlement of intelligent humans at a satellite base and gives them the decryption key, which allows them to reactivate the satellites. This will allow them to contact other intelligent humans around the world and organize a real rebellion against the apes.

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Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes’ Ending Secretly Told You What The Next Movie Is Going To Be About And It’s So Exciting

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes took a huge leap forward for the new rebooted series of movies, but it also gave a clear direction for the future.

In the final scene of the movie, Noa takes Soona to look through the telescope he discovered on his journey. The movie ends with Noa looking up at the stars, wondering what could be out there. This isn’t a solid enough hint that the filmmakers of the next movie have to follow up on it, but it does suggest that the franchise is building up to the return of the astronauts from the original movie. After that setup in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, the next one could theoretically be a straightforward remake of the original classic.

The Next Planet Of The Apes Movies Can Do Time Travel While Still Being Grounded

Planet Of The Apes’ “Time Travel” Is Technically Possible

The controlled time travel seen in movies like Avengers: Endgame and Back to the Future is scientifically impossible. There’s no way for a wristwatch or a modified DeLorean to transport someone to a specific date in the past or future. But the time travel seen in the Planet of the Apes franchise is actually completely possible — it’s just relativity and time dilatation. It’s based on the part of Einstein’s theory of relativity about relativistic flight and closed timelike curves. So, there’s a way for the new movies to introduce time travel without compromising their grounded approach.

Don’t Expect The Next Planet Of The Apes Films To Be All About Time Travel

It Seems Unlikely That This Version Of The Franchise Will Embrace Time Travel

Despite the setups, it’s unlikely that the next Planet of the Apes movie will explore time travel. Even if the filmmakers do something with the astronauts and the relativity twist, it seems unlikely that this franchise will ever do all the weird things from the original films. It just doesn’t fit the new tone to have an ape go back in time and cause a paradox.

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Planet of the Apes

Planet of the Apes is a multimedia sci-fi franchise that began in 1963 with Pierre Boulle’s novel, which was later adapted into a film in 1968 starring Charlton Heston. The success of the movie led to four sequels, two TV shows, a remake from Tim Burton, and a reboot trilogy. The Planet of the Apes franchise has also seen success in video games and comic books.