Early on into the 2024 TV schedule, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 1 wrapped up its run to Apple TV+ subscription holders, and just a few months later, the streamer announced that Monarch Season 2 was moving forward. While cameras began rolling on the next batch of episodes at the end of July, news on what to specifically expect when we revisit this corner of the MonsterVerse has been few and far between. Today, however, brings word that Prey actress Amber Midthunder will appear in Monarch Season 2, and I’m intrigued by what role her character will play within it.
Midthunder is the first new player to be announced for Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 2, and Variety reports that she will play an “intelligent and powerful businesswoman.” As already indicated, the actress is best known for playing Naru in Prey, the Predator prequel that takes place in 1719 and can be streamed with a Hulu subscription. Her other notable credits include Hell or High Water, Legion and Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Now, knowing that Amber Midthunder is playing a businesswoman in Monarch Season 2 might not seem like a big deal on the surface. However, there’s an important plot twist from Season 1 we need to remember. The seventh episode, titled “Will The Real May Please Stand Up?”, flashed back to show how May, then known as Corah Mateo, was forced to go on the run after she destroyed the research for a company she was working for called AET, which was tied to the Monarch organization. By the end of that episode’s present day narrative, AET had rebranded itself into Apex Cybernetics, the company that was causing trouble in Godzilla vs. Kong.
By the end of Monarch Season 1, when Cate, May and Keiko emerged from Axis Mundi, the realm between our world and Hollow Earth, it was now 2017, two years after the events of the show’s present day narrative. The trio ended up at an Apex research station on Skull Island, where they reunited with Hiroshi, Kentaro and Tim, and Kong emerged from the nearby forest as the episode was ending. This places the Monarch Season 1 finale as taking place roughly seven years before Godzilla vs. Kong, where we watched as Apex CEO Walter Simmons tried to use Mechagodzilla to try and kill the Titans, but only succeeded in getting himself killed and unleashing that artificial monstrosity upon Hong Kong.
It seems as though Monarch Season 2 will delve more into Apex and show how the company ended up in the place it did in Godzilla vs. Kong. As such, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Amber Midthunder’s character is working there. Whether she’s at middle management or risen to executive status at such a young age, it’s easy enough to envision her as one of the main Apex representatives at this point in the timeline. The question then is if she’ll be one of the good guys or an antagonist. If it’s the latter, don’t be surprised if her story ends with a Titan squashing her.
We’ll keep passing along more Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 2 updates as they trickle in. If you’d like to stream the MonsterVerse’s cinematic entries, including the 2024 movie release Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, you’ll need a Max subscription.
