Is Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Canon?

The MonsterVerse, the shared cinematic universe that began with 2014’s Godzilla, spreads to television with the original series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. Releasing on Apple TV+, Monarch connects some of the dots throughout other MonsterVerse projects.

As the MonsterVerse’s first television project, there is some question about the canonicity of Monarch and its place in the shared cinematic universe’s overarching timeline. With that in mind, here’s the definitive answer as to whether Monarch is set firmly in MonsterVerse continuity and where it falls in the cinematic timeline spanning decades of Titans roaming Earth and being monitored by the eponymous clandestine agency.

Is Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Canon?

Right from its opening sequence, with an older Bill Randa fleeing from an arachnid Titan on Skull Island, it’s clear that Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is set in the same universe as the MonsterVerse films. This is underscored by John Goodman reprising his Kong: Skull Island role as Randa, the most prominent actor from the MonsterVerse to appear in Monarch to date. Godzilla battling the MUTOs in San Francisco in the 2014 film is another major narrative touchstone for Monarch, with the series set in its immediate aftermath.

2024 marks the release of the next MonsterVerse cinematic project, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. Though Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is confirmed canon within the MonsterVerse and is set approximately a decade before the upcoming film, it will be interesting to see if any Monarch characters or plot points are referenced or directly appear in the upcoming film to solidify this shared cinematic universe’s cohesion. It’s important to note that the MonsterVerse is separate from Japanese-produced Godzilla multimedia, including the recent Godzilla Minus One, which maintains its own continuity.

How Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Fits Into the Timeline

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters takes place in several places across the MonsterVerse timeline, though its primary story takes place shortly after the Titan fight in San Francisco. Protagonist Cate Randa is present for the attack and travels to Japan one year after the emergence of Godzilla in San Francisco after she learns her father Hiroshi has apparently died. This places the bulk of Legacy of Monsters in 2015, one year after the 2014 Godzilla and four years before Godzilla: King of the Monsters.

Flashbacks to Lee Shaw’s past as a young man begin over 60 years earlier, in 1952, as the government notices strange phenomena in the aftermath of World War II and increased nuclear weapons testing. Lee works with Cate and her half-sibling Kentaro’s grandparents, Bill Randa and Keiko Miura, as they investigate Titan activity around the world. Spanning several years, through at least 1959, this places the flashback sequences approximately 20 years before the events of Kong: Skull Island, where Bill appeared as a significantly older man in 1973.