WMG / Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

• Highly unlikely, as he is the last member of his order, meaning any family he had (if he even had one) were likely wiped out by Proximus' forces.

He wears a stole with symbols similar to Lawgiver's statue in the 1968 film. While they might be already standard for orangutans in the new ape society (like Caesar's window becoming the equivalent of the Christian cross), it would also make sense to introduce them in this film rather than offscreen, between installments.

• While not impossible, Raka refers to Caesar as the Lawgiver as a Mythology Gag to this.

The young human girl who will be played by Freya Allan will be called "Mae" and not Nova, which would mean that after Caesar's death, the apes who were enslaved by Colonel McCullough and Alpha Omega would no longer see anything good in humans and Nova would have no salvation from that.

• The first teaser shows a city much more ruined and covered in vegetation than anyone we've seen, hinting at a setting around 300-500+ years after the Simian Flu if the Timeline of Life After People is to be believed.
  • In an interview with Empire, the director stated that "most" of Caesar's relatives are dead - heavily implying that the time skip was only on the scale of decades, not centuries. The youngest characters in the last movie were Caesar's newborn son Cornelius, and Nova the mute human girl - so it's possible there was a time skip on the scale of ~70 years and we'll see them as elderly people.

The cinematography in one of the shots of the trailer is reminiscent of the reveal at the end of the original film and there is a shot of what appears to be a moss-covered telescope.

• Adding onto this theory, a future apes film could be a modern day remake of the original 1968 film at some point.
  • Alternately there could be a stinger with an ape looking into the telescope and seeing their ship approaching setting up the next movie to be a remake of the original.
• Adding to the theory, Mae is the astronaut. In the second trailer released her clothes are far more modern in contrast to the other feral humans. Space is emphasized heavily in the trailer and she's noted to be smarter.
• Jossed for this film, but the humans are contacting someone with satellites, and Noa is seen looking into a telescope with a worried expression. Maybe they're coming in the sequel?

Following the end where Taylor escapes, Dr. Zaius tries to cover up the existence of advanced, intelligent humans but it's too late. Proximus Caesar has his group search for this advanced human technology to usurp ape society.

Specifically, the "fact" that Caesar killed "him" after saying "You are not ape" will be invoked as a reason to wantonly kill humans, even though the real Caesar would have been against that.

• Seems like the mythology of Caesar has become so distorted that they wouldn't make an error that specific.

It's been long expected by fans that the franchise will eventually re-do the 1968 film, but the studio cannot replicate the impact made by the Statue of Liberty scene. So The Reveal in this film will be that Mae is actually not a version of Nova from the 1968 film, but an astronaut with the surname Taylor.

• A brief shot in the Super Bowl trailer shows Mae in a modern-looking top, cargo pants, and boots. Very out of place among other humans clad in leather wraps.

Since the official trailer has a quip between Noa and Raka about Mae being "smarter than most" of the humans, Mae doesn't want to stand out because the ability to speak makes her a target, especially when the same trailer has her being hunted down.

• Confirmed.

Since the original movie had the orangutans as the villains, this movie will play with audience expectations set up by the Caesar trilogy, which had Maurice be a good guy and mentor figure in all three movies. Raka will initially be presented in a similar light as Maurice, but will be revealed to be hiding a hatred of humanity similar to Dr. Zaius.

• Jossed, he's actually one of the nicest apes around.

• Jossed, he's quite pro-human.

Noa notes in the superbowl trailer that the elders did not tell him and most of the population the truth about their world. Likely, Proximus knows how Caesar rose to power and how human civilization fell; noting humanity's past thus, how he and apekind will learn from them and conquer.

• Add the shots of Proximus' faction fighting and defeating other ape tribes, and Noa's story supposedly leading up to rebelling against Proximus.
• Even the shots of the apes hunting humans will turn out to be their method of keeping humanity 'in check'; killing/capturing the ones who seem smarter (hence why Mae's targeted), because the elders are paranoid that humanity might have a chance to reclaim the earth if left alone.

Mae is actually Carole Stewart, the astronaut who died in the 1968 film, who left the Icarus in orbit (escape by a capsule). This will pave the way for a future film, further back in time, with Taylor during the Icarus crash.

Proximus is said to be a bonobo, not a chimp, and the only other significant bonobo in the series is Koba. And like Koba, he has twisted Caesar's ideals to fit his own agenda. Perhaps his kingdom arose from a faction of Koba's followers that grew powerful over the centuries.

The apes experienced a language drift over the past 300 years, turning the Hulk Speak English into its own derivative dialect that is only vaguely reminiscent of its ancestral tongue (and the audience hears it as English through Translation Convention). So, Mae is forced to puzzle it out by trial and error.

They'll be a reimagining of the mutants from Beneath the Planet of the Apes

Rise through War focused on the apes that Caesar freed from the science lab and zoo, along with their descendants. But due actions in Rise, the virus is global, potentially giving rise to other pockets of Ape civilization, that will come into contact with each other.

The climax of War for the Planet of the Apes featured a well equipped Northern Army sent by the last remnants of the US Government to destroy Col. McCullough's splinter faction. On this film Mae says that the bunker was the last refuge of half the US Government when the Simian Flu hit, and it is shown to be well stocked with war material, including numerous tanks. Since epicenter of ape-kind appears to be the western seaboard of the former United States, where the original trilogy took place it stands to reason that the US Government remnant that sent the Northern Army against McCullough and the US Government remnant that made its last stand in the bunker were one and the same.

Proximus describes the things humans used to be able to do as a product of evolution, as if they are inherent powers he can unlock through their technology. Transmitting information to, for example, an earpiece could easily be interpreted as telepathy to someone with no context for what one is.

Whether they want to be put on those pedestals or not.

Trevathan had the time to teach the monkeys of Proximus Caesar's clan the basics of reading, leading them to develop a culture close to human societies. This "humanoid" society will be in conflict with a "confederation" of clans, led by Noa, bringing together monkeys whose culture will be 100% apelike.

Noa showing the other chimps the ancient telescope might be setting up chimps being scientists, and he's already seen how orangutans can be scholars and gorillas as warriors with Raka and Sylva respectively. It won't be anything intentional on his part, but setting up the new ape society to keep up with the humans might lean into organizing the different species of apes in this regard, which will be distorted over the centuries in the same way Caesar's teachings were, creating the "some apes are more equal than others" society seen in the original 1970's film.

If for no other reason than to give the design team a chance to embrace the basic concept in their own creative style.

Consider that bonobos don't really show up in the original series. Koba and Proximus Caesar will be considered to represent that bonobos are inherently evil, justifying a genocide of them. Caesar's declaration of "You are not ape" will be twisted into a condemnation of the whole species. It won't help that bonobos are probably the most humanlike out of all the ape species.

At this point, it would be pretty bleak for peace between apes and humans to be snatched away yet again. Therefore, humans and apes will eventually make peace, and the world with an ape civilization dominating savage humans in the original series will never come to pass. Maybe it will be revealed that time travel has successfully put the future on a better path.

Many people assume that Mae will be the new Big Bad. But maybe instead she will take Noa's lessons to heart and convince the humans to pursue peace, whether or not this is actually possible.

Like Mae, they'll want to help humans have a life free from hiding and fear of being killed or enslaved by the apes. Unlike Mae, they won't have a desire to force apes into subjugation and will be more open to a peaceful coexistence between the two species.