‘Monarch’ Season 2’s Mysterious New Titan is Something We’ve Never Seen Before

Apple TV’s MonsterVerse extension Monarch: Legacy of Monsters has a true original up its sleeve for the second season, which is set to premiere on the streaming platform next month. In the first season, viewers enjoyed the awesome terror of Godzilla, the Ion Dragon, mole-penguin thing Frostbark, the insectile Endoswarmers, the mega boar Bramblebore, the humongous arachnid Mother Longlegs, and King Kong, but the brand-new Titan X (introduced in the latest teaser trailer) is something else entirely.

Executive producer on the series, Tory Tunnell, recently caught up with SFX Magazine, where she explained that this oceanic kaiju isn’t like anything we’ve ever seen before on screen — slightly putting into question the giant octopus Oodako theory.

“It’s really exciting to launch a new monster here, and with [VFX supervisor] Sean [Konrad’s] collaboration, it feels dynamic and exciting and something we haven’t seen before.”

According to Tunnell, whose CV also includes Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur: Legend of the Sword and Jack Quaid’s action comedy Novocaine, Konrad will frequently draw upon real-life inspirations from the deep when it comes to creature design.

“You think you’re an educated human, and you know what creatures exist on this planet, and then suddenly Sean shows you things and you’re like, ‘Oh, my God, that’s real? Where is that?’ We really want to have these new Titans rooted in reality, so we spend a lot of time making sure that they make sense, like the way that they’re moving, or whatever their fuel is, and that the whole idea is integrated.”

‘Monarch’s Wyatt Russell Teases Season 2

Monster X in Monarch Legacy of Monsters

Apple TV+

Monarch star Wyatt Russell has been spicing up the anticipation for Season 2 ever since production wrapped in March of last year. This is after the older version of his protagonist Lee Shaw (played by real-life dad Kurt Russell) sacrificed himself in the Season 1 finale to allow Cate, May, and Keiko to safely escape the Hollow Earth. Thanks to a two-year time jump, fans are soon set to find out what happens between Monarch and Apex in the period leading up to Godzilla vs. Kong, which came out in 2021.

In an interview with Collider, Russell discussed how excavating this particular story in the Apple TV show both deepens the mystery and pushes the dynamics between the central characters.

“Season 2 of Monarch was really interesting to be able to get to do because we had to expand on certain themes and stuff that we found in the first season to really work. I haven’t been briefed on what I can tease and what I can’t. I can say that the mystery deepens. There are more monsters that arrive that are really fun to explore in the story. We wanted to level it up, I guess you could say, and in the Monarch way, ratchet up the stakes of the relationships as well. I can tease that the relationships really get ratcheted up.”

Despite seemingly dying in Season 1, Russell’s iconic dad is officially back for more Monarch fun, too. Season 2 debuts on Apple TV on Friday, February 27, with episodes dropping weekly.