Despite having been the figurehead of the franchise since 2011, Andy Serkis' Caesar is noticeably absent from the recently released Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.
Wes Ball's 2024 Apes movie debuted in theaters in May and arrived on Hulu in the U.S. and Disney+ internationally on August 2.
This film was a departure from the last three Planet of the Apes adventures. It jumps a couple hundred years into the future, moving away from the rise of ape-based society into a fully flourishing primate empire.
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Where Is Caesar in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes?
With Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes streaming, fans wonder where the franchise's most recent main character, Caesar, is in the film.
While Andy Serkis' chimpanzee is not properly in the most recent Apes movie, the character's fingerprints are all over Kingdom.
His absence in the film is largely due to how the last movie in the epic sci-fi franchise ended.
The last three movies told Caesar's story, showing the primate protagonist breaking free of humanity's shackles and transforming a society of Apes into the leading species on planet Earth.
This tale of triumph came to a stunning and emotional conclusion at the end of 2017's War for the Planet of the Apes, when Caesar was mortally wounded in a battle to save his clan during the film's climax.
As he saved his tribe and ultimately doomed what was thought to be the last of humanity, Caesar is laid to rest on the edge of Oregon's Crater Lake. He ensures the safety of his family and community and imparts the pillars of survival for generations to come.
And that is exactly where Kingdom picks up. The movie opens moments after War's end, showing a funeral ceremony for Caesar conducted by the orangutan Maurice, a former close collaborator to Serkis' ape leader.
This is all before the movie jumps several hundred years into the future, focusing on the teachings of Caesar and how the legacy of a leader can be twisted as generations go on (read more about how Caesar impacts Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes).
Speaking about how Caesar plays into the newest Apes movie, producers Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver reiterated that the character may be dead, but he has taken on this Moses-like status, becoming a core pillar of how the apes live in this post-human world:
"Certainly his legacy does. This is hundreds of years after Caesar passed, but he was kind of a Moses character, so his legacy really is important, thematically, to what we’re attempting to do in this movie."
Because of his powerful sacrifice in War for the Planet of the Apes, it seems highly unlikely the character will appear in another movie in the franchise. Still, because of his importance to ape society, his presence will be felt moving forward.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is now streaming on Hulu in the U.S.
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