'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' has finally begun filming and Fox has revealed some pretty exciting details about the eighth film in the iconic franchise. What exactly can we expect from the Matt Reeves directed film? And who is rounding out the cast? Well, read on and find out!

As you surely remember, the terrific 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' ended with Caesar (Andy Serkis) leading his army of hyper-intelligent apes into the wilderness as a deadly virus began to ravage the human race. 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' picks up years later, after much of the world's human population has been wiped out and the apes are poised to take over. From the press release:

A growing nation of genetically evolved apes led by Caesar is threatened by a band of human survivors of the devastating virus unleashed a decade earlier. They reach a fragile peace, but it proves short-lived, as both sides are brought to the brink of a war that will determine who will emerge as Earth’s dominant species.

Serkis will once again lead the film, providing a motion capture performance for Caesar. His co-stars include Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman, Keri Russell, Toby Kebbell, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Enrique Murciano, Kirk Acevedo and Judy Greer. That's an absolutely stellar line-up -- it's hard to imagine the great Jason Clarke sleepwalking his way through this film like James Franco did in 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes.'

Although it's a shame that Rupert Wyatt didn't return to the director's seat, we're excited to see what Matt Reeves does with the next chapter of this series. The man who made 'Cloverfield' and 'Let Me In' seems like a nice match for what's essentially a retooled 'Battle For the Planet of the Apes.'

'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' will arrive on May 23, 2014.