This piece contains spoilers for Episode 9 of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.
2024 marks the 70th anniversary of Godzilla’s birth, and the celebrations start off strong thanks to the long-awaited final episode of Apple TV+’s excellent Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. In his penultimate episode of the hit series Axis Mundi, he visited the filming location of the title. Thanks to an exclusive chat with series co-creator Chris Black, we tell you everything you need to know about the new Axis Mundi. It’s the titan known as Bramblebore and his shocking return that ignited the fandom.
What is Axis Mundi?
After the shocking ending of Monarch: Legacy of the Monsters episode 8, in which Lee Shaw (Kurt Russell) attempts to close the portal between our world and Hollow Earth, episode 9 sees Lee, Kate (Anna Sawai) ), followed by Mae (Kiersey Clemons). They find themselves in Axis Mundi, a surreal new location in Hollow Earth. Its name comes from a mythological term for the space between heaven and earth and an astronomical term for “the earth’s axis between his two poles of heaven.” And its creation was inspired by the crew who were trying to find something new and unique for the MonsterVerse’s first television show.
“We just wanted to make the best version we could, but with that said, we were very mindful of: [Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire] ‘ is scheduled to be released next year, and I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that Hollow Earth is involved,” Black told IGN. The stories and reveals they want in a feature film. So, working with them, we said, “Okay, we knew that Keiko disappeared into some sort of subterranean Titan realm.” What you see in the feature film, or What would be different than what we already see in feature films?”
Black looked to one of the most famous fantasy locations for inspiration when reimagining new areas of Hollow Earth for Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. “The Earth Hollow is not a small place,” he said. “I tend to think of it almost like Middle-earth. There’s the Shire, and there’s Mordor. It’s a vast area with different zones and areas with their own environments, ecosystems, and their own cryptozoology. So with that in mind, we were able to: carve out a unique place for the show in our little corner of the Hollow Earth universe.”
Bringing Axis Mundi to life was made possible through the collaboration of a gorgeous cinematography and post-production team. “Most of the practical stuff was shot in the British Columbia rainforest, but then we added visual effects to give it special lighting and the look of another realm,” Black said. “We worked with visual effects supervisor Sean Conrad, director Andy Goddard, who shot Episodes 9 and 10, and talented production designer Caroline Haniania to create an out-of-this-world and I came up with something that could only be felt by humans, and I felt like, “As you can see from the features, it could exist within a larger region of the Hollow Earth.”
What is Monarch’s new monster, Bramblebore?
Humans are at the heart of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, but as the title suggests, and as fans know, creatures are the driving force behind the series. In Episode 9, fans received a new addition to the MonsterVerse’s vast canon. Here we saw it for the first time. Kate encounters Brambleboar while struggling to find other companions in the depths of Axis Mundi. As you can see in the exclusive images, it’s an impressive beast.
When it came to creating terrifying creatures, the creative team worked with Legendary and our in-house mythology team to come up with something truly frightening. “The mythology team is led by a great guy named Barnaby Legg. He’s kind of the custodian of everything in the MonsterVerse,” Black said. “When we’re writing, instead of thinking of names for these things, we think: ‘What’s an interesting creature? What’s a scary, threatening thing that Kate might encounter?’ ‘Shall I arrive?’
“The next step is usually with the director and Sean Conrad, who worked on Godzilla 2014. He knows the Monsterverse inside and out. It’s like a canon of creatures that have already been created. The research team looked to real bugs and insects for inspiration from what Black described as a “pseudo-rationale,” but then they just “got hooked on it.” Ta.
Brambleboa’s unique appearance was conceived by one of the show’s concept artists, who came up with the idea of it being covered in horns and covered with plant-like growths. It was a design that the team felt was “cool” and it was all about making it into Legendary.
“It became a discussion of what we would call it if we were to add these creatures to the larger canon and hang them on the wall alongside Godzilla, Kong, and Skull Crawlers.” Black said. “Then conversations arise about what makes a good name and how does it fit into the wider world’s taxonomy? And I think Barnaby, who came up with these, I have to give a huge amount of credit to the Mythology team.”It really proves how seriously they take this world, that this universe needs consistency, and they gave me He never tells us what we can or can’t do, and he puts up guardrails for us in the best way possible. “But make sure we’re all playing in the same world. They let us play in the sandbox as long as we promised not to break the toys.”
Keiko revives and the importance of family
In a shocking twist at the end of Axis Mundi, we learn that Keiko didn’t die in the first episode and has been trapped in Hollow Earth ever since. Just as we found out that Lee didn’t age when he was trapped in a supernatural place for 20 years, we learn that Keiko doesn’t age either. But don’t ask Mr. Black how that science will play into it, since Mr. Black and the creative team were more focused on Keiko’s resurrection than the lore behind it.
“I think it’s interesting because the science aligns with the story we wanted to tell,” Black revealed. “When we lost Keiko in the first episode, it was a very dramatic and shocking cliffhanger. And it’s funny, I’ve talked to other people about when we found out that the character wasn’t actually dead. I think we knew pretty early on that you weren’t dead.” Just know… there are areas of hollow earth, and things flow into these holes, and things come out of these holes, and that nothing is what it seems.
Black also said that the decision to bring her back was centered around Keiko being “such a great character, and Mari Yamamoto is such an extraordinary actor and such a fun person, and her scenes with Wyatt were so fascinating. So we knew shared the fact that I think it started with “She’s not dead” because this character wasn’t one that would just fly away and never be seen again. Then make up some bogus stupid science to explain why she’s not dead. ”
Black said this was a choice that drove the series, as the creative team knew how impactful it would be to reunite Keiko with her family and, ultimately, her old friend Lee Shaw. is. The focus on humanity set Monarch apart from its first episode, and Black says it was a natural choice.
“On a purely practical level, we couldn’t compete with a feature film,” Black explained. “We knew the bar was set very high, so we couldn’t make a cheap TV version of Godzilla that would at least be on par with the production, in terms of quality, visual effects, and everything else. So we couldn’t have a big monster fight in every episode. We just didn’t have the resources.”
For those wondering what Keiko’s return means for the finale, Black teased that he was very happy with the final episode and the ending it left for our characters. “I feel like the story ended in a very satisfying way for me.” And while Monarch Season 2 hasn’t been greenlit yet, the team is “hopeful and optimistic” about the possibility of a renewal. “I’m always thinking about the story I want to tell,” he says.
Rosie Knight is a freelancer for IGN, covering everything from anime and manga to monsters, children’s films, and horror films. She has over five years of experience in entertainment journalism and has written bylines in Nerdist, Den of Geek, Polygon, and more.
