The Planet of the Apes franchise is one of the most well-known sci-fi franchises, and it’s coming back soon with a new installment: Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. A new teaser photo for the film has been released. Joe Hartwick, producer of the upcoming sequel, spoke with Empire Magazine, explaining how the jump in time allows the film to explore new themes and tones: “The last couple of movies concerned Caesar’s burden…they felt heavy — super-enjoyable, but super-intense. We’re going in a different direction. Noa still has a burden, but it’s wrapped in a different level of adventure, mostly because the character hasn’t been exposed to the outside world before. So we’re seeing him see the world for the first time.”

Make-up was used in the franchise’s original films, transforming actors into the apes and, thereby, creating iconic character designs; however, the more recent films have upped the ante in visual effects largely due to motion-capture performances. Erik Winquist, the film’s VFX Supervisor, gave some details about what audiences can expect visually: “It was apparent on the page that this was going to be tricky in a number of instances, where you’ve got wet apes…You start getting into the need to deal with how the water affects the fur and how the fur affects the water.”

ComicBook Movies describes the film as follows: “Director Wes Ball breathes new life into the global, epic franchise set several generations in the future following Caesar’s reign, in which apes are the dominant species living harmoniously and humans have been reduced to living in the shadows. As a new tyrannical ape leader builds his empire, one young ape undertakes a harrowing journey that will cause him to question all that he has known about the past and to make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike.”

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes will include the following stars in its line-up: Freya Allan, Kevin Durand, Peter Macon, William H. Macy, and Owen Teague. It is set to be in theaters on May 24, 2024.