Editor’s Note: The article below contains spoilers for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
The newPlanet of the Apesmovie picks up generations after Caesar’s rule in the reboot trilogy from last decade.Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, directed byWes Ball, follows a young ape named Noa (Owen Teague) searching for his clan after an attack by a neighboring ape clan. Since the virus that led to the apes' rise in the earlier movies ravaged the planet, very few humans are left in the world, and the ones who are alive have reverted intellectually, behaving like animals.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apesfinds Noa and his new ally, Raka (Peter Macon), meeting a young girl, Mae (Freya Allen), who leads to Noa questioning everything he’s thought about humans, setting up interesting grounds for potential future conflict in the series.Kingdom of the Planet of the Apesalso offers one of the most complicated human characters in a franchise where human characters tend to be cast starkly as either heroes or villains. Mae sits somewhere in between, making for a dynamic presence in a movie that depicts the tensions between humans and apes in a new fashion.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Many years after the reign of Caesar, a young ape goes on a journey that will lead him to question everything he’s been taught about the past and make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike.
Who Is Mae in ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’?
Mae is a young woman who travels with Noa for the first stretch ofKingdom of the Planet of the Apes. She is seen foraging for food and scurrying away, causing Noa to respond as though she were a wild animal. Noa, and the rest of the apes featured in the new film, have never experienced humans as anything other than feral.Like the original movie,Kingdom of the Planet of the Apestakes place centuries after the fall of humanity, so it is a surprise for Noa when he notices that Mae seems much smarter than the average human. This shock grows further when Mae speaks. With so much time passed, the clans have lost the history of what humanity used to be. Mae’s existence opens up Noa’s worldview, but also challenges it as an intelligent human could pose a threat to the well-being of the apes.
Mae Is the Most Morally Complex Human Character in the ‘Planet of the Apes’ Franchise
ThePlanet of the Apesfranchise has always depicted the terse relationship between apes and humans in a fairly black and white fashion. The movies have moved between eras of apes reigning supreme and humans in charge. But in either case, the human characters are often either outright villainous, like the murderous Colonel (Woody Harrelson) fromWar for the Planet of the Apes, or very sympathetic. Mae is a morally gray character in a decidedly complicated situation. She makes many decisions out of self-interest, andaligns herself with Noa and Raka out of a need to survivemore than anything. But she does seem to respect and even like them. She is also not cruel or callous in her treatment of the protagonists.
Mae and Noa are alike in many ways, and the mutual respect between the two is juxtaposed with an uneasy tension that permeates every interaction. Mae makes a few key decisions throughout the film that put Noa and many other innocent apes in danger, in the interest of humankind’s survival. This is an understandable cause, but positions Mae as a threatening presence to what is now a thriving community of apes. Freya Allan does great work portraying a character who is at odds with her environment, but not a bad person. In a series where the human characters are often flattened into one batch or the other, Mae offers a fresh, new dynamic that could be expanded onsignificantly in future installments.
‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ Grapples With the Uneasy Alliance of Humans and Apes
Mae’s story reflects a fundamentally broken relationship between humans and apes.In an interview with Collider, Allan explained how she played Mae with the weight of a tragic loss suffered at the hands of Proxmius Caesar (Kevin Durand), the charismatic demagogue who is co-opting Caesar’s legacy to fulfill a violent overtaking of all the ape clans.Proximus Caesar is also a complicated character, motivated by what could either be a radical, misguided understanding of Caesar’s words, or a willing exploitation in an effort to grab power. The intersecting ways that Proximus weaponizes religion, history, and science to maintain control over his clans and to make them believe in his cause with a cult-like loyalty, builds on the series' longstanding examination of how dominant cultures re-write narratives to fulfill their own agendas. This tendency leads to the biggest question at the center ofKingdom for the Planet of the Apes:can two hyper-intelligent species co-exist without violence, distrust, and prejudicial class dynamics?
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Mae’s distrust of the apes is understandable, considering what she has lost. Just as some of the othersympathetic, non-heroic characters in the franchisehave their own reasons for their selfish actions, Mae makes difficult choices for the sake of her people. In one of the most important moments in the film, Mae and Noa reunite in an exchange that cuts to revealMae holding a gun behind her back. Thankfully, the weapon is not used, or even made known to Noa, but this choice expresses that the world ofKingdom of the Planet of the Apesis not a utopia. The road to any sort of rebuilding of human society will likely come at a great loss to the apes and the many different conflicts that could arise as a result. For now, Mae and Noa are on good terms. The two thoughtfully reflect on Caesar’s legacy, questioning whether humans and apes can ever coexist. The gun behind Mae’s back indicates she will never be able to make up her mind about it.
Mae is an interesting foil to Noa, a human character that truly functions unlike any otherin this 10-movie, decades-old franchise. Freya Allan brings a lot to the table with her engaging screen presence and nuanced character interpretation. Mae’s journey seems to just be getting started, and it will be interesting to see where she goes from here. Hopefully, the creative team behind whatever comes next understands the numerous great opportunities there are for a character like Mae in this world.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apesis now showing in cinemas in the U.S.
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