Monarch: Legacy of Monsters has been taking Apple TV+ users by storm. Based in the world of Godzilla and the monsters who help to keep the world safe, the series gives us an interesting look into the joy of the franchise and what makes Godzilla stories such an exciting part of our love of this lore.
We spoke to some of the cast about the series and particularly what role their characters play in the larger story of Monarch, Godzilla, and the involvement of Wyatt and Kurt Russell’s Lee Shaw in this world. And one thing is made very clear: The cast loves the show that they made and rightfully so! It is, after all, one of the best deep dives into the human arcs of a “monster” story, especially with the way the show highlights the problems with Monarch as an organization.
In talking with the cast, we asked a lot of questions about their characters, the connection they all share, and what makes a show like Monarch: Legacy of Monsters work.
Bringing the bad guys to life
Joe Tippett plays Tim, a man who works for Monarch and wants to make sure that Lee Shaw and those he’s working with don’t get too many of the answers they’re looking for. In talking with Tippett and Elisa Lasowski (who plays Duvall), I asked them about being the bad guys in a Godzilla story and the legacy that has in this franchise. “It’s amazing to be the best baddies on TV. What can we tell you?” Lasowski said with a laugh. “Although there is still ambiguity of the characters. But it’s great to be perceived as as bad.”
Tippett talked about what Godzilla’s role is in the story and how that informs Monarch and those who work for them. “I also just think it’s a bit early in the story before people have sort of figured out what Godzilla’s role is in protecting people from other titans and stuff like that,” he said. “People’s motives are just you only have the information that you have at the time. But yeah, I agree. We are the best baddies on TV.”
Playing a strong woman in the 1950s
One of my favorite aspects of Monarch is Mari Yamamoto as Dr. Keiko Miura. She is someone who is trying to understand the world of the titans while still fighting against a time period that won’t let her embrace her own brilliance. Keiko is a doctor and still has to defend her intelligence over and over again to the men in this series because they only see her as a woman and not as the extremely capable person that she is.
When I spoke with Yamamoto and her costar Anders Holm, I asked her about bringing a strong female character like Keiko to life when she exists in a time period in Monarch that wanted to keep her in her place behind the men in her life.
“It meant so much to me as an actor and as a human being,” she said. “I think, because growing up I didn’t see Japanese women portrayed like this in Hollywood. So getting to read this kind of script, my first thought was, ‘is that even possible? Like, could she exist?’ I mean, it’s a fantasy, but my first thought was, ‘well, she did her postdoc in the US in science in the 1950s. Like, is that even possible?’ So the first step for me was to do some research into if that was possible at all. And that really helped me because I found out that the Fulbright scholarships in Japan had started in the late 40s. And there were very few, but there were women that who went to America to get higher education. So when I saw those numbers and also individual stories of people who had done it actually really opened my eyes to what a set idea I had of women and Japanese women in the 1950s.”
A familial dynamic
While a main theme throughout Monarch can be tied back to family, it is specifically the story between Cate Randa and Kentaro Randa that has captivated me. The two siblings, who didn’t realize they were related until Cate went to Japan to try fo find her father, are forced to work together while also just getting to know each other.
It makes for an instantly interesting look into how these two characters react to changes in their lives, and when I spoke with Anna Sawai, Ren Watabe, and Kiersey Clemons, I asked Sawai and Watabe about building that dynamic between Cate and Kentaro.
“I feel like for me, I love that we get to see the develop development of their relationship,” Sawai said. “In the beginning, Kate’s like, I don’t wanna do this. I’m just gonna leave and go back home. And then they’re kind of forced into working together. And then she sees that they have so much in common, there’s a shared history, and then realizes that they’re half siblings, she cares about him and she feels that he cares about her too. So, it’s really nice to see that progression.”
Watabe talked about the character standpoint between them: “I think what’s there, if there’s an analogy between our characters is that we have this deep passion towards our father, and that’s what sort of ties us together. So from a character standpoint, I think that’s what ties us.”
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters airs on Apple TV+.
(featured image: Apple TV+)
