Legendary has officially set the sequel to its blockbuster hit Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire in the works. Film studio’s Monsterverse franchise has been on the rise in case over the last several years both Godzilla vs. Kong managed to rake in some dough at the box office despite dropping simultaneously on streaming, while Apple TV+’s Monarch: Legacy of Monsters was a critics’ darling and a big hit for the streamer. The New Empire wasn’t exactly a hit with critics but was a hit with the box office for Legendary, keeping the talks for the franchise’s future ongoing.

The Hollywood Reporter has reported that Legendary has hired Dave Callaham to script the untitled Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire sequel. This is likely an unexpected development! He is primarily known for his work on comic book adaptations. He co-authored the Marvel Cinematic Universe films Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. It’s reasonable to presume that the most current monsterverse director, Adam Wingard, will also be returning – “to finish a trilogy”.

Callaham’s Recruitment for Godzilla X Kong 2

Ironically, he is better known as a collaborator in the Marvel space, but Callaham has its own history with the Monsterverse, as he was the first writer made to work on the script for Godzilla in 2014. In the end, he only gets a “story by” credit, since many other writers were called on to revise his original script, including The Dark Knight ‘s David S. Goyer, The Walking Dead ‘s Frank Darabont, future Andor creator Tony Gilroy, and Max Borenstein. The latter gets the “written by” credit and contributes the story for Godzilla: King of the Monsters and writes the script for Godzilla vs. Kong.

Considering that no other writer is confirmed to be returning and that Wingard’s deal isn’t even set, the hiring of Callaham a sequel to thefranchise, is intriguing. After all, while it wasn’t technically confirmed until two months after The New Empire was announced, it remains unknown whether Callaham, who may be penning either an original pitch like the 2014 film or a concept from Wingard himself, is simply approaching the Monsterverse conventionally. That said, as it bounces between the very serious Godzilla and pulpy Kong: Skull Island, the Monsterverse franchise may be hitting new tonal territory if no Callaham takes a role.

It must be noted, though, that recent years have proven Callaham’s capacity to work in quite a few tonal muscles composition, and he co-wrote both 2021’s Mortal Kombat reboot and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which — although set in an action-heavy universe — held wholly different tones. Then, there is Wingard having already shared ideas of the sequel to his Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire and Legendary studio having even more clearly expressed a desire to get him back, therefore it seems likely the studio will not dare to go far away from all they knew regarding the recent hits.