After a long period without any major updates, it looks like the maniacs behind the damn, dirty Planet of the Apes saga are nearing production on a new installment, the first since 2017’s War for the Planet of the Apes. There are very few details about this movie’s story, but the project does reportedly have a script and has begun searching for a cast.

Deadline reports that 20th Century Studios has chosen Owen Teague to play the lead ape role in the latest film. This Apes project has quietly been in development for several years, with Wes Ball serving as director. Now it looks like the film is gaining steam, as there is a finished screenplay...

Earlier this summer, Ball delivered a script to the studio that instantly excited execs about where the new story could take fans of the franchise. A casting process began soon after that. Prior to the Fourth of July holiday, execs and Ball began testing talent for lead roles. While the search remains for the main human role, Teague wowed execs with his screen tests and was offered the role in recent weeks.

Teague recently appeared in the recent TV miniseries version of The Stand, and also had roles in It and It Chapter Two. 

While it’s not clear where the new script will take said planet of said apes, back in February of 2020, Ball said on Twitter that the film was not a reboot, and that it was “safe to say Caesar’s legacy will continue.” (Caesar, played by Andy Serkis, was the main ape hero of the previous Apes trilogy that started with 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes and continued in 2014’s Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.) Of course, those comments were over two years ago, and Ball has spent all that time monkeying around with the material. A lot could have changed about the project since then, including its status within the established Planet of the Apes canon.

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