What a wonderful day! Planet of the Apes fans can rejoice as we finally have our first look at the new apes movie, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. Development on the new Planet of the Apes film began in April 2019 and was officially announced in December of that year with director Wes Ball at the helm.

　　Much of the script was written during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, with casting starting in June 2022, following the script's completion. Owen Teague (The Stand, Black Mirror) was cast in the lead role that August, with the film's title and additional casting revealed in the following months. This is the fourth installment in the Planet of the Apes reboot franchise and stars Freya Allan (The Witcher), Peter Macon (The Orville), Eka Darville (The Originals), and Kevin Durand (The Strain). Check out the awesome trailer below.

　　"Director Wes Ball breathes new life into the global, epic franchise set several generations in the future following Caesar's reign, in which apes are the dominant species living harmoniously and humans have been reduced to living in the shadows," the official movie synopsis reads. "As a new tyrannical ape leader builds his empire, one young ape undertakes a harrowing journey that will cause him to question all that he has known about the past and to make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike."

　　In the first three original Planet of the Apes films, Cornelius was played by Roddy McDowall and by David Watson. He was also married to Dr. Zira, another prominent character in the Apes mythos. While the reboot movies borrow a lot of lore from the original movies and novels, there is no direct connection between them.

　　Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is scheduled to hit theaters May 24, 2024.