Monarch: Legacy of Monsters gives us lots to look at in the trailers and the promos for the new Apple TV+ series. One of the things we’re most excited about is the casting of Lee Shaw. The series follows Shaw through the decades, which makes casting the role rather challenging Monarch solves this by bringing us a casting choice that really works, creating an opportunity few other projects have. I’m talking about the casting of father-son duo Kurt and Wyatt Russell.
Wyatt Russell plays a young Shaw in the 1950s, where the series explores the origins of the Monarch operation, an important part of the world of Godzilla. Monarch knew about the existence of the monsters who lurk in our world, but their motives are unclear. Did they help to create the monsters, or did they cause the environmental disasters that woke them up? What this means for Shaw(s), we don’t know. We will see how his life changes from the start of Monarch to the present day.
What is fascinating to me about this casting though, is that Monarch could have easily cast the Russells in your typical father-and-son role. But having them play the same character in different time periods? Very cool choice.
Tired: father and son casting. Inspired? Same character casting.
Lee Shaw needed to be played by a young actor who looked like he could have aged into the actor playing him in the 50-year jump. So who better to play that part than Wyatt Russell’s own father, Kurt Russell?
Often, fathers and sons are offered the ever-so-inspired casting choice of … father and son. For the Russell family, it is often worse because there are so many of them in the acting world. Letting Kurt Russell and Wyatt Russell explore a different side of their acting styles by playing the same character is an exciting choice for them and for fans as well. Their track record as performers speaks for itself because even though Kurt Russell has been working for longer than his son, Wyatt Russell has an impressive catalog of roles as well.
All this just makes me so incredibly excited to meet Lee Shaw in Monarch and see what both Kurt and Wyatt Russell have brought to the two aspects of Lee Shaw’s life.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters premieres on Apple TV Plus on November 17.
(featured image: Apple TV+)
