WARNING: This article contains SPOILERS for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes perfectly fixed the franchise’s timeline by retconning an important character from War for the Planet of the Apes with just one line. The Planet of the Apes timeline can be incredibly confusing, namely because it actually consists of multiple timelines created by in-universe time travel and a reboot. Rise of thePlanet of the Apes was both a reboot of the franchise and a prequel to the original film, meaning this new saga was expected to eventually lead into a remake of 1968’s Planet of the Apes.
Despite multiple inconsistencies between the current franchise and the previous Planet of the Apes movies, Caesar’s story always felt like it was building up to the world found by astronaut George Taylor in 1968’s Planet of the Apes. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ ending makes it clear that space will play a significant role in the saga’s future. The latest Planet of the Apes movie even fixed an important timeline issue created by War for the Planet of the Apes regarding Linda Harrison’s Nova.
Maurice named the little girl from Warfor thePlanet of the Apes “Nova,” establishing a major connection between Amiah Miller’s character and the original movie. As soon as it was announced that War for the Planet of the Apes would have a character called “Nova,” many were quick to assume that she was going to be a younger version of Linda Harrison’s character from Planet of the Apes (1968). The fact that War’s Nova was mute and had a doll, two things that tied into the original movie’s Nova, only added to this theory.
There was a problem, however. The original Planet of the Apes takes place in 3978, whereas War for the Planet of the Apes is set in the early 2020s. Despite all the connections between War’s Nova and the human character from the original Planet of the Apes, the timeline did not add up. If War’s Nova were to be the same one from the original films, the saga’s entire chronology would have been changed. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes retcons this by establishing that all human girls are referred to as “Nova” by members of the Order of Caesar.
Before Freya Allan’s Mae revealed she could speak and said her name in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Ruka called her “Nova.” This was followed by a hilarious line, “We called them all Nova,” that brilliantly fixed War for the Planet of the Apes’ Nova inconsistency. It can be assumed that those from the Order of Caesar, or any other ape who had contact with those familiar with Caesar’s teachings, learned to refer to human girls as “Nova.” This is because the first human girl to become part of an ape tribe was Nova from War.
The apes from Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes were likely not aware of the full story of the first Nova and how she became part of Caesar’s tribe. The concept of calling unnamed human girls Nova became a tradition and was passed down from generation to generation. By choosing a name for his human friend in War for the Planet of the Apes, Maurice was unknowingly starting a tradition that would continue for centuries to come.Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ Nova retcon worked surprisingly well.
War for the Planet of the Apes’ Nova was a homage to Linda Harrison’s character, but the former could simply not be the same character as the latter unless the franchise’s entire timeline was retconned. Even though there are plenty of inconsistencies between the new Planet of the Apes saga and the original one, the current films are expected to eventually lead into the events from the 1968 movie. There were no astronauts or hints of time travel in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, but the franchise has never been closer to the original film than now.
There are still over a thousand years separating the current Planet of the Apes franchise from the original movie, but multiple seeds leading up to a remake of the 1968 film have already been planet. One of them is the Nova retcon, which establishes that there will eventually be a Nova in the far future who becomes friends with George Taylor. It may take a while before Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ sequels catch up with the original timeline, but details like Nova’s name mean that the franchise is carefully building up to it.