One of the biggest new TV shows for November 2023 is Monarch: Legacy of Monsters on Apple TV Plus, with the big-budget action sci-fi show a lively alternative to all the holiday movies and TV shows being released by streamers.
But one thing may stop prospective fans from watching Legacy of Monsters; that's that the show is part of the 'Monsterverse', a collection of 5 movies and 2 TV shows that have spun off from 2014's Godzilla movie.
With that in mind, you may be wondering 'Do you need to see Godzilla or any of the other movies before Monarch: Legacy of Monsters?'. Unfortunately the answer is... 'maybe'.
We'll help you figure out what to watch before Legacy of Monsters, and whether you actually need to check out anything at all.
Which movies tie into Legacy of Monsters?
Let's firstly rule out some of the movies.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is set in 2015, and the two movies King of the Monsters and Godzilla vs. Kong are set after that, in 2019 and 2021 respectively. So nothing that takes place in them affects the plot of Monarch. The upcoming 2024 addition The New Empire will fall under this category too.
The only previous Monsterverse TV show, Skull Island, is the only animated entry into the franchise. While it's technically set in the same chronology, the events have little to no impact on any other part of the franchise, so you can skip it.
So that leaves two movies. Firstly is Kong: Skull Island from 2014. Watching this certainly isn't vital, but not only is it useful to understand Monarch, there is also one character who crosses over from the movie to this TV show. You'll basically understand 99.9% of the TV show if you don't watch the movie, but simply knowing what Skull Island is will make the first scene of the movie a bit more enlightening.
That leaves 2014's Godzilla, and if you're going to watch one movie in preparation for Legacy of Monsters, it's this one. Not only does the film take place prior to the events of the new series, but the show's plot actively involves characters reeling from the aftermath of its explosive events.
Do you need to watch Godzilla?
While watching Godzilla will help you understand Monarch: Legacy of Monsters a lot more, you technically don't need to. You can infer the key repercussions from the movie plot just from the worldbuilding of the show, thanks to neat worldbuilding details.
That's doubly true if you saw Godzilla when it came out but don't remember what happened, as the show will gently remind you without hitting you over the head.
While Kong Skull Island has a character in common with Legacy of Monsters, Godzilla doesn't, so it's not like you're going to miss any important beats. It's only world events that carry over from the movie.
Everything you'll miss from Godzilla and Kong: Skull Island
Think you'll skip on Godzilla and Kong: Skull Island based on our advice? You easily can, and although they're both fun films, you may want to simply jump into the TV show. But if you want to be informed as possible, we'll provide all the important context from those movies here, so you can pretend you're in the know!
Spoilers for Godzilla and Kong: Skull Island follow.
Kong: Skull Island follows a team of adventurers in 1973 looking for prehistoric creatures on the Pacific island of Skull Island. Most importantly for our purposes is Bill Randa (played by John Goodman), the head of Monarch. Monarch is US government organization and it's his duties in this role that cause him to assemble the team.
The team finds many nasty creatures (the name 'skull' was apt) and lots of them get murdered by a menagerie of freaky finds — including Bill Randa, who gets eaten by a creature called a 'Skullcrawler'. However John Goodman reprises his role as Randa in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, so it might be useful to know the above as it could prove relevant. Plus, at the end of the movie several characters were hired by Monarch, so maybe Tom Hiddleston or Brie Larson could show up or be mentioned in a cameo?
Now onto Godzilla, which sets up a lot for this TV show. Chief of all is that the organization Monarch isn't just organizing ill-fated holidays to murder islands but is digging up giant monster skeletons, growing creepy creatures, setting off bombs around Godzilla to see what happens, and in general studying giant creatures like Godzilla. It's been around since at least the 1950s.
The world learns about these giant monsters in Godzilla too, when two of them start trashing Honolulu and Las Vegas respectively. It all comes to a head in San Francisco though, when Godzilla and these two creatures get into a big fight which causes lots of destruction in the city. This big climactic showdown is important in the events of Monarch: Legacy of Monster, as some of our cast are on the ground as it happens.
Despite Godzilla: Legacy of Monsters awakening the public to the existence of monsters, people are still unaware of the existence of Monarch.
