fifth Planet – After four well-received reboot films that never quite broke into Oscars or mainstream pop culture, a fifth instalment is now confirmed—bringing the franchise back into the spotlight with a new chapter set closer to the original Planet of the Apes timeline.
The first four films of the rebooted Planet of the Apes franchise landed with a strange kind of quiet success: critics and audiences largely embraced them, yet none of the movies won Oscars or made much of an impact on pop culture. For a while, it felt like the series might slip past its moment.
Then, earlier this month, confirmation came that a fifth movie is on the way.
It’s not just any continuation. This is the rebooted Planet of the Apes—part of a long. twisting lineage that begins with Charlton Heston’s 1968 film. based on Pierre Boulle’s original novel. In that story, astronauts wake up after centuries in stasis and crash on a strange planet ruled by intelligent primates. What made the original endure was its iconic twist: the crew have returned to Earth. many years after human civilisation has ended. Between that foundation. the sequels that followed. and one previous ill-advised reboot. it becomes clear why Hollywood keeps circling back to this premise.
The new crop started with a clear signal. Rise of the Planet of the Apes was a reimagining that pushed the story’s sympathies toward the primates. At its centre is Caesar (Andy Serkis). a young chimp whose intelligence is heightened after being exposed to an experimental Alzheimer’s treatment in utero. The film makes Caesar’s awakening feel personal—he’s forced out of his human family’s home. watches how he and other animals are mistreated. and his growing awareness turns into something more radical. In the film’s own way, Caesar begins to radicalise his fellow apes.
For all the talk about “hand-wavy science,” the argument for Rise is that it manages both spectacle and substance. Its cutting-edge motion-capture animation still holds up, and it remains the entry point many fans point to when they want to explain why the reboot deserved more attention than it got.
A decade after the primates create their own society in the Muir Woods of California. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes takes the conflict forward. In this version of 2026. humanity has largely succumbed to simian flu. framed as a deadly consequence of the treatment that gave the apes their intelligence. The sequel also brings a new kind of emotional leverage: humans are placed among the characters worth rooting for. while the bonobo villain Koba (Toby Kebbell) turns the story into a cold-war drama that borrows the emotional weight of Greek tragedy. Koba is a master manipulator with a harrowing past. and his treachery is described as positively Shakespearean—he prods and plots against Caesar. pushing the colony toward disaster.
War for the Planet of the Apes rounds out the trilogy as a revenge thriller. The series’ most recent film to date is Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. released in 2024 and set 300 years after Caesar’s time. That film follows a new chimp, Noa (Owen Teague), as he encounters the remnants of humanity and, crucially, its tech.
The stakes of the new announcement sharpen when the timeline is mentioned. The as-yet-untitled fifth movie is expected to be set closer to the original Planet of the Apes timeline—3978. if the date is something you’ve forgotten. That matters because the franchise’s identity has always lived in how the past returns, warped by time and consequences.
There’s still no release date. There’s still a lot of air around what the next chapter will actually do. But even in the uncertainty. one thing feels unmistakable: after four well-received films that didn’t fully catch on in awards season or pop-culture chatter. the rebooted Planet of the Apes is getting its next chance—right where the story has always been strongest. at the intersection of intelligence. survival. and the choices that echo long after the credits roll.
Planet of the Apes Rise of the Planet of the Apes Dawn of the Planet of the Apes War for the Planet of the Apes Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes Caesar Andy Serkis Koba Toby Kebbell Noa Owen Teague motion-capture animation science fiction film franchise