War for the Planet of the Apes filming has started

Director Matt Reeves revealed today that War for the Planet of the Apes filming has started! The new movie is scheduled for a July 14, 2017 release. You can check out Reeves’ tweet below.

The announced apes cast so far includes Andy Serkis, reprising his Caesar role, and Steve Zahn. On the human side, the War for the Planet of the Apes cast includes Gabriel Chavarria (“East Los High”) and Woody Harrelson (“True Detective,” Zombieland). Reeves co-wrote the script for the sequel with Mark Bomback.

“I know that part of the desire for Matt [Reeves] to do this next movie is about continuing the enjoyment of seeing these apes evolve. So I don’t think we’re going to see a situation where we’re jumping [ahead in time],” series star Andy Serkis said of the film last year. “…It might be three films, It could be four. It could be five. Who knows? But the journey will continue. It might not necessarily be summarized or completely fulfilled in this next one. The point being, eventually we know that we’re going to end up back at ‘The Planet of the Apes,’ but whether it’s this film or not, I don’t know.”

“The notion of what we’re after with the third is to sort of continue that trajectory and see how he becomes a seminal figure in ape history,” Reeves previously told us. “He almost becomes sort of like an ape Moses. A mythic status… We’re trying to play out those themes and continue to sort of explore it in this universe. Exploring human nature under the guise of apes.”