Warning! Spoilers ahead for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.
Summary
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apesstars Peter Macon and Kevin Durand cast doubt on Raka and Proximus' deaths while atSan Diego Comic-Con. The latest installment in thePlanet of the Apesfranchise is directed by Wes Ball, with a story that follows young ape Noa (Owen Teague) as he embarks on an epic quest. On his journey, he encounters Mae (Freya Allan), a human, the wise orangutan Raka (Macon), and the villainous ape Proximus Caesar (Durand), but Raka and Proximus both seemingly die by theKingdom of the Planet of the Apesending.
During a recent interview withScreen Rantat SDCC,Macon and Durand question their characters' deaths inKingdom of the Planet of the Apes.
Macon points out that Raka’s death isn’t actually shown on screen, and Durand, though Proximus' death is a little more definitive, evidently thinks there’s more to explore with his character. Check out their comments below:
Peter Macon: Did you see [Raka] die? I didn’t see him die. Did you see him die? I saw [Proximus] kind of fall…
Kevin Durand: I didn’t die! Shut up, Raka. “I didn’t see you die, but you fell from a very big height.” Stop putting that out in the universe.
Peter Macon: No, I’m saying you’ll come back formidable, bro. Just broken and beat up.
Kevin Durand: Okay. That’s what you meant. I feel like he still believes in his ideology and the way that he interpreted Caesar’s words, but I think he has definitely been humbled. It’d be very interesting to see if or when he climbs out of the water. I don’t know. I really have no idea what comes of that.
I can’t help but think there would be humility there, but I don’t know. He sees something in Noa that he’s never seen in another ape and I think he would love to somehow be a part of that, whether it be to manipulate it to make his own. I have no idea.
War For The Planet Of The Apes’ Scrapped Koba Plan Is Bad News For This Kingdom Character’s Return
Koba was supposed to return in War for the Planet of the Apes, and this may have an effect on the sequel to Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.
Raka’s Planet Of The Apes Return Seems Inevitable
But Proximus Remains A Question Mark
Raka is one of the many apes inKingdom of the Planet of the Apes' castof characters that Noa encounters on his journey, and he proves to be both wise and crucial to getting Noa and Mae to where they need to go. When Noa, Raka, and Mae are attacked while on a bridge, however, Raka ends up in the river and is swept away by its powerful current.The scene clearly leaves Raka’s fate open-endedand keeps the door open for the character to return in a future film.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apesestablishes that orangutans cannot swim, which is why Raka being swept down the river is presented as a death sentence.
Proximus also falls into water, but his demise is a little more clear cut. After Noa and Proximus engage in a cliff-side fight towards the end ofKingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Proximus is attacked by hawks and falls off a high cliff into the angry waters below. A scene earlier in the film suggests that the height of the fall is enough to kill, and past installments in thePlanet of the Apesfranchise have also seen the central villain killed off at the end of each film.
A key rule to remember with movie deaths, though, as Macon suggests, is thatif no dead body is shown on screen, a character can return after seemingly being killed off.Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes' reviewsand box office would suggest that it’s likely another film will move forward, and both Raka and Proximus are prime characters to bring back, the former especially. Both Macon and Durand certainly sound up for a return afterKingdom of the Planet of the Apes.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Cast
Set several years after the events of War for the Planet of the Apes, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is the next installment in the Apes saga. Ape clans have taken up residence in the oasis that Caesar sought to colonize, but humans have reverted to their animalistic nature in their absence. Now battling between enslavement and freedom, outliers in the Ape clans will take sides in a newly burgeoning society.
