Legendary Pictures’ MonsterVerse is in a pretty good spot after its last two crossover movies and Apple TV+’s Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, surprisingly becoming one of the best ultra-expensive tie-in shows based on a big-screen property one. Now, the show is gearing up to cast its cast for season two, with Thunder in Amber being first on the list.
Variety broke the news on October 8, revealing that the rising star will join the show for its second season “in a major recurring role.”
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While Zhong Lei has already made waves in TV shows like FX’s Legion , 2022’s Predator prequel/spin-off Prey has established her as one of Hollywood’s newest darlings and one of the young talents to watch. Prey 2 is currently in production at 20th Century Studios, but the creatives behind it are first working on a completely different Predator standalone movie.
After expertly playing a Native American action heroine in Prey, her character Isabelle in MonsterVerse seemed nowhere near as good. Her character is described simply as “a smart and powerful businesswoman.” In case you haven’t noticed, Merchant tends to do poorly in these types of stories, but hey, the sheer number of curveballs Monarch throws at us during the show’s premiere might just surprise us.
Season 1 features an impressive cast, including Kurt Russell, Wyatt Russell, Anna Sawai, Kiersey Clemons, Ren Watabe, Mari Yamamoto, Anders Holm, John Goodman, Joe Tippett and Elisa Lasowski, among others. This is yet another sign of how stacked Apple’s shows and the MonsterVerse are, so we expect there to be more new big names teaming up with Midthunder this time around.
Season 1 ended with a major time-warp surprise, with the main characters stranded on Skull Island alongside goons and representatives from Apex Industries, just as the massive storm that devoured it before Godzilla vs. Kong began to intensify. Additionally, Kong made a cameo appearance in the final scene. Plot details are still under wraps, but we fully expect it to bridge the gap between the second Godzilla movie and GvK while continuing its big family drama.
Meanwhile, the next MonsterVerse “event movie” is being written and prepared, with a tentative release date of March 26, 2027.
