The time is almost here! Godzilla: King of Monsters is shooting soon, and in the past few months, the movie has been collecting quite the ensemble of talented cast members. The latest addition is quite exciting, with acclaimed actress Zhang Ziyi signing on for a key role. She's not just appearing in Godzilla 2, but she will also be a key player in future Monsterverse movies to come.
Legendary announced this week that they've closed a deal for Zhang Ziyi to join Legendary and Warner Bros.' cinematic Monsterverse. Though her character has not yet been revealed, she will be featured in a major franchise role, beginning with the next Godzilla film opposite Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga, Millie Bobby Brown, Bradley Whitford and Ken Watanabe. The film is set several years after the events of the 2014 Godzilla, and the character is a significant figure within the covert Monarch organization established in that film.
The film is part of the Legendary and Warner Bros. cinematic universe and will be released on March 22, 2019. Michael Dougherty is directing from a script by Dougherty and Zach Shields. Ziyi received Golden Globe award, BAFTA award and Screen Actors Guild award nominations for her role in Memoirs of a Geisha. She was also recognized by the BAFTA awards with nominations for House of Flying Daggers and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Additional film credits include Hero, 2046, and The Grandmaster. She is represented by ICM Partners and Mosaic.
In other recent Monsterverse news, it was recently announced that Adam Wingard will be directing the much anticipated big monster fight Godzilla Vs. Kong, which will be the second movie Zhang Ziyi appears in. Wingard finalized his deal with Warner Bros. and Legendary in late May. The final script writers have not been announced, but the script was put together by a pretty impressive writers' room that included Terry Rossio (Pirates of the Caribbean franchise). The other writers in this room include Patrick McKay and J.D. Payne, (Star Trek 4), Lindsey Beer (The Kingkiller Chronicles), Cat Vasko (Queen of the Air), T.S. Nowlin (Maze Runner franchise, Pacific Rim: Uprising) and J. Michael Straczynski (Babylon 5).
Godzilla 2 arrives spring 2019 followed by Godzilla Vs King Kong, which is set to arrive the following year on May 29, 2020. The next two movies follow the hugely successful relaunch of the Godzilla franchise in America back in 2014. The second installment, Kong: Skull Island, arrived this year. And it is one of the biggest released of 2017 thus far.
The post-credit scene for Kong: Skull Island featured Brie Larson and Tom Hiddleston's characters in a Monarch interrogation room, where they are shown cave drawings of iconic monsters King Ghidorah, Mothra and Rodan. They have all long been confirmed to be part of Godzilla: King of Monsters. It isn't known how big of a time gap there will be between Godzilla: King of Monsters and Godzilla Vs Kong, but it has been confirmed that Godzilla 2 will follow the events seen in the first movie, with the action picking up where the first left off. It isn't yet announced whether Brie Larson and Tom Hiddleston will return for future Monsterverse outings.