It's pretty apt that the next movie in Legendary's MonsterVerse franchise is generating such discussion around Easter time, for it was Easter last year that saw the most recent film in the series take the world by storm upon its release. This year, it's all about the casting, as the film has added yet another major star to its ever-growing cast.
The third movie in the Godzilla x Kong saga and sixth overall in the MonsterVerse film series (and to feature at least one of the titular movie monster legends), the upcoming sequel was commissioned off the back of the monumental success of last year's Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. And for this new, somewhat unanticipated next chapter in the franchise, the monsters are reeling in some big stars.
The most recent addition to the line-up comes in the form of a Hollywood icon who knows a thing or two about surviving run-ins with movie monsters.
Sam Neill boards Legendary's next MonsterVerse movie
Jurassic Park legend and Hollywood icon Sam Neill has joined the cast of the next film in the Godzilla and Kong movie series. As reported by Deadline, there is no word on who he will be playing as of yet, as Legendary and Warner Bros. maintain a lot of the secrecy surrounding the upcoming film, but the film is expected to focus on a bunch of new human characters who team up with the titular Titans as they face off against a potentially world-ending event.
Neill is no stranger to sharing the screen with larger-than-life monsters as he was the original lead of the Jurassic Park film series. Starring as Dr. Alan Grant, he appeared in 1993's Jurassic Park and reprised the role in 2001's Jurassic Park III and 2022's Jurassic World Dominion. The latter of those wrapped up his character's arc and concluded the story that played out across the six films in the movie series. Neither he nor any other Jurassic castmates will appear in this year's upcoming Jurassic World Rebirth.
He's also tried his hand at the Marvel Cinematic Universe, appearing in 2017's Thor: Ragnarok (which also, ironically, starred his Jurassic Park costar Jeff Goldblum) and 2022's Thor: Love and Thunder in appearances that saw him portray an Asgardian actor playing Odin, who was actually portrayed by Anthony Hopkins in the MCU. With a fifth Thor movie now expected to be announced as part of Marvel Studios' next chapter of the MCU, could Neill reprise his role?
The MonsterVerse has become one of the biggest franchises in Hollywood in recent years. It all started with Godzilla in 2014, which spawned spinoffs and sequels Kong: Skull Island (2017), Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), Godzilla vs. Kong (2021), and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024), as well as Apple TV+ series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. The unanticipated success of Godzilla vs. Kong spawned the sequel, which in turn ended up being even more successful than its predecessor. That led to Warner Bros. and Legendary collaborating on another MonsterVerse movie that will bring the iconic beasts back for another crossover.
The upcoming film is set to be directed by Grant Sputore and features quite the cast, including Matthew Modine, The Last of Us' Kaitlyn Dever, Fear The Walking Dead's Alycia Debnam-Carey, Jack O'Connell, Delroy Lindo, and Dan Stevens reprising his role as Trapper from the previous movie.
Needless to say, we're excited to see how Sam Neill joins the fray, swapping out dinosaurs for, well, a dinosaur-like lizard and the Eighth Wonder of the World.