While “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” season 2 may be full of human melodrama, that doesn’t mean it lacks chaos of the creature variety, either. The sophomore season of Apple TV’s series introduces Titan X, a gargantuan, tentacled, glowing, aquatic beastie that looks set to make an impact on the greater MonsterVerse franchise. Titan X is larger-than-life and purely fantastical — but it does contain some similarities with real-world ocean critters.
In an interview with SFX Magazine (via GamesRadar+), “Monarch” producer Tory Tunnell explained that Titan X is modeled after deep-sea creatures from the Southern Hemisphere. The real-life monsters might not be as catastrophically threatening as the kaiju-sized menace on “Monarch,” but Tunnell doesn’t want the show to be completely otherworldly. As she put it:
“We really want to have these new Titans rooted in reality, so we spend a lot of time making sure that they make sense, like the way that they’re moving, or whatever their fuel is, and that the whole idea is integrated. We’re also trying to match it thematically with what we’re doing in the show. There’s a lot of conversations that go into it.”
Tunnell added that VFX supervisor Sean Konrad has been instrumental in educating everyone about the sea creatures that inspired Titan X and its kaiju counterparts. But what is his approach to making audiences suspend their disbelief?
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters tries to root its Titans in reality as much as possible
Titan X isn’t the only reality-inspired creature in the MonsterVerse. After all, Godzilla has a lizard aesthetic, and Kong is a giant ape. This makes them feel relatable from a visual standpoint, as most viewers are familiar with reptiles and primates. That said, Sean Konrad believes that their actions and surroundings are also key to getting audiences to invest in the creature chaos on a deeper level. As he told Collider:
“When Kong throws a punch, his body should follow that momentum and take a small beat to recover. Beyond motion, a lot of what really sells scale are the secondary-simulated elements of the scene — atmospherics, building destruction, dragging bits of dust, chunks of ground churned up as a tail swings, etc.”
According to Konrad, these are all things the viewer can identify with, allowing them to bridge the gap between their own life experiences and the fictional world of “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.” From a viewer standpoint, this makes this franchise’s creatures more terrifying than the types of beasts we see in more outlandish giant monster movies and TV shows. That’s because, just maybe, we can imagine ourselves bumping into them on an uncharted island or in a far-off ocean.
“Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” is now streaming on Apple TV.