Legendary’s Monsterverse is, all puns intended, an interesting beast. Unlike the thousands of characters of the MCU, or the burgeoning DCU, the Monsterverse has, let’s be honest, two main stars: Godzilla and Kong. Sure there are other monsters in there from Mothra to Rodan and everyone in between, and the movie series has worked overtime to establish human characters. But if the big lizard or the big ape aren’t in it, to use fan terms: does it matter?
Nothing against Millie Bobby Brown, Kyle Chandler, John Goodman, or any number of human actors who have populated the world since 2014’s Godzilla wrecked shop, but most of the time – with some exceptions – the human story has felt like a way of padding out the runtime between monster cage matches.
And then there’s Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, which flipped the script (not literally, they were not reading the script upside down) on the Monsterverse by putting the humans first. The Apple TV series (previously Apple TV+) ostensibly focused on the development of Monarch, the agency tasked with… Following Godzilla and yelling at him? Honestly, even after seeing every movie in this series several times, it’s not entirely clear. And finding out what Monarch’s deal is was one of the joys of Season 1 as we jumped through two timelines: one in the past as scientist Keiko Miura (Mari Yamamoto), fellow scientist Bill Randa (Anders Holm, playing a younger version of John Goodman’s character from Skull Island) and their army escort Lee Shaw (Wyatt Russell in flashbacks, Kurt Russell in the “present”) tried to prove monsters exist in order to build Monarch; and one taking place right after G-Day, aka Godzilla’s first attack, as various descendants and friends of the initial trio dealt with their, you guessed it, legacy.
While the first season of Legacy of Monsters was often very silly, that’s okay: we’re dealing with giant Titans, a world between worlds called Axis Mundi (which is different from the other world between worlds, Hollow Earth, introduced in the movies), and a thin mythology that left plenty of room for invention. It also made sure the human drama, involving lost siblings and parents was intriguing, while also hitting at least one giant monster attack per episode. And it all built to a surprising time travel twist towards the end that set things up for Season 2.
So with all that wind-up, how is Season 2 of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters? The tl;dr answer is: different. While the show is still split into episodes (all 10 were provided to critics for review), while Season 1 of Monarch leaned into TV structure, Season 2 is of the “more of a 10 episode movie” vibe. A large part of that is that instead of multiple monsters, this season mostly focuses on one: Titan X, an original creation for the show who escapes from Axis Mundi and forms the spine of the plot.
Don’t worry, there’s still time for Kong and Godzilla to drop by, as well as a few other beasties. And thanks to Legendary’s care and Apple’s unlimited budget, the monsters look great. This isn’t Kong scaled down for TV, he moves and looks just like he does on the big screen. Same for Godzilla, and new It girl Titan X is a clear, cool design as well, more of a Lovecraft-ian sea monster than her land-based compadres.
The problem with Season 2 is that it’s essentially a 10-hour long Monsterverse movie, instead of the TV show we got in Season 1. While that means the monster fights are, indeed, very cool, and we spend a fair amount of time on Skull Island – a location that’s got plenty of ground to explore – it also means that the human drama often feels wafer thin… It’s mostly focused around Titan X, not the Randa family. There’s also the issue that after watching all the movies and now two seasons of the show, I’m still not entirely sure why Monarch exists. Mostly seen through the lens of normal dude Tim (Joe Tippett), who ends up in a commanding position at Monarch this season, a lot of their job seems to be following monsters around to see where they go. I’m no Boss Baby, but that doesn’t seem like a growth strategy.
That also leaves most of the cast with also not much to do other than shout variations of “where’s Titan X” or “follow Titan X” for most of the 10 episodes, which is a shame because the cast is uniformly committed to the material. Anna Sawai, who plays Cate Randa, had a huge year back in 2024 when most of Monarch premiered. And while Season 2 gives her a tragedy at the beginning of the season that reverberates throughout the episodes, she got a lot more to dig into in the aftermath of G-Day in Season 1. Ren Watabe as her brother Kentaro gets a little more to do as he moves up the ranks in Monarch, but the season is inconsistent with the path his character takes, unsure of his place in the narrative. And Kiersey Clemons as tech genius May is always a lot of fun, but she’s mostly relegated to support role and exposition.
By far the most successful part of the cast is the magic trick from Season 1, which still works: Kurt Russell playing the older Lee Shaw, and Wyatt Russell playing the younger Lee Shaw. Both having a complicated relationship with the time-lost, now returned Keiko gives us the most meat over the course of the season emotionally, particularly when dealing with Keiko’s boyfriend Bill who is entirely oblivious to the fact that Lee and Keiko are pining for each other. And the Russells are always welcome, grounded presences in the middle of all this monster madness… Both have way of conveying “really? monsters again? okay, here we go,” with a simple smirk that conveys why both have successfully made their path as movie stars.
There are others who pop up throughout the season. Cliff Curtis is laugh-out-loud funny as a corporate stooge working with the morally compromised Apex Cybernetics (they’re the ones who create Mechagodzilla in Godzilla vs. Kong), who speaks only in buzzwords. And Amber Midthunder shows up late in the season and is always a welcome presence, though the show hasn’t quite figured out how to utilize her prodigious talents by the time the season ends.
Look, I’m a simple man. I can’t deny that seeing a giant ape swing around a monster-filled island is cool, or that seeing Godzilla emerge from the sea to battle a sea monster in the middle of the Australian desert is [checks thesaurus, fails] cool. That’s what we’re tuning into the Monsterverse for, and that extends to Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 2.
But it’s unfortunate because the freshman season felt like it was pummeling on the fences of its enclosure, sneakily aiming to break out of the confines of “franchise.” Season 2, on the other hand, is safely inside those bounds, giving us more of the same that we’ve seen on screen multiple times over the past decade and change, and will continue to see when Godzilla x Kong: Supernova hits theaters next year. Legacy of Monsters Season 1 was the sort of show you could suggest to potential fans to check out, saying “hey even if you don’t like the movies, you might like this.” Season 2, on the other hand, doesn’t grow the legacy of the Monsterverse, it hits the same beats. If you’re a monster fan, you’ll be tuning in regardless. Otherwise, it might be better to stand back, observe, and as famously said in Godzilla: let them fight.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 2 premieres Friday, February 27 on Apple TV.
Full disclosure: I do work freelance with a company associated financially with Legendary, but do not work for them directly.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 2 Premiere Dates And Episode Guide:
New episodes of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 2 technically premiere Fridays on Apple TV, though given time zones in the United States new episodes will hit the service at 9pm ET / 6pm PT on Thursdays. We’ve listed the Friday dates below, just for posterity.
Here’s what we expect from the full list of episodes in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 2, with premiere dates.
- Friday, February 27, 2026: Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Season 2, Episode 1, “Cause and Effect”
- Friday, March 6, 2026: Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Season 2, Episode 2, “Resonance”
- Friday, March 13, 2026: Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Season 2, Episode 3, “Secrets”
- Friday, March 20, 2026: Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Season 2, Episode 4, “Trespass”
- Friday, March 27, 2026: Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Season 2, Episode 5, “Fursato”
- Friday, April 3, 2026: Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Season 2, Episode 6, “Requiem”
- Friday, April 10, 2026: Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Season 2, Episode 7, “String Theory”
- Friday, April 17, 2026: Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Season 2, Episode 8, “Seperate Ways”
- Friday, April 24, 2026: Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Season 2, Episode 9, “Ends of the Earth”
- Friday, May 1, 2026: Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Season 2, Episode 10, “Where We Belong” *Season Finale*
Where To Watch Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 2
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