At the time of writing this article, Apple TV, Toho, Legendary Television, and Warner Brothers haven\u2019t renewed Monarch for a third season yet. But given the manner in which Season 2 came to a close, it\u2019s safe to assume that showrunners Chris Black and Matt Fraction are definitely looking to tell more MonsterVerse stories via the small screen. So, allow me to share some of my theories and expectations for Monarch Season 3 based on what we have seen so far in the show as well as the movies. In addition to that, since I have learned about the existence of a Lee Shaw-centric spinoff too, I\u2019m gonna talk about it as well.<\/p>\n
Spoiler Alert<\/p>\n
Hiroshi Will Return<\/p>\n
On one hand, Kentaro wants to use the time-traveling powers of Axis Mundi to bring back Hiroshi from the dead, and on the other hand, Isabel wants to harness them to \u201ctravel to the future.\u201d Now, Isabel\u2019s plan is pretty tepid, because we have already seen that happen with Keiko and Lee; and it happened with Hiroshi off-screen. If Isabel sells this time-hole vacation plan to capitalists, which I think they\u2019ll buy into, because everyone wants to avoid the present and wake up in the hypothetical improved future, she can make billions of dollars and prove her worth to her father. Kentaro\u2019s plan though, is pretty dangerous, because we don\u2019t know what happens when you try to transport a person to a time period where he has died. Lee and Keiko fates weren\u2019t sealed; so, their timeline-hopping didn\u2019t disrupt the time-space continuum. In simpler terms, in the narrative of this universe, they were always meant to continue their respective plotlines, which is why their entry into Axis Mundi and eventual return to the surface didn\u2019t create any issues. However, Hiroshi\u2019s plot thread has come to an end. So, forcibly restarting his story could destroy the delicate balance between the surface, Axis Mundi, and Hollow Earth; and I don\u2019t think Monarch, Apex, or Godzilla have the power to fix that.<\/p>\n
Cate And May Romance On The Horizon<\/p>\n
Everyone in the three realms has sensed the chemistry between Cate and May. Kentaro even said it out loud that May is in love with Cate, which is why she never reciprocated his feelings. Now that they\u2019ll be working closely together to track Isabel and Kentaro as they try to open a rift and exploit the powers of Axis Mundi, I expect some prominent sparks to fly between the two ladies. The romantic triangle between Lee, Keiko, and Bill has fueled the drama for 2 seasons (lowkey sad that they didn\u2019t explore the homoerotic vibes between Lee and Bill), and now it\u2019s time to make things very queer. Yeah, I was going to say \u201cmake things a little queer,\u201d but we have gone past that point. I need Cate and May\u2019s romance to be off the charts. Who knows? That might just boost Cate\u2019s superpowers. Speaking of Cate\u2019s superpowers, I hope Season 3 of Monarch delves into its origins in an in-depth fashion. So far, the show has barely scratched the surface, and I won\u2019t mind it if they return to that village in Japan where Cate fully realized that she had superpowers. Also, can Cate\u2019s superpowers be spiritually transmitted? I know that sounds weird, but in the OG Godzilla series (by Toho), the Shobijin came in pairs. The MonsterVerse kinda adapted the Shobijin via doctors Ilene and Ling Chen. But it looks like they aren\u2019t going to show up anymore. Hence, the showrunners might take the Axis Mundi-related mutation route to make another pair of Shobijin, and if some of Cate\u2019s powers are transmitted to May, the MonsterVerse will essentially have its own Titan-communicating \u201cfairies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tim And Keiko May Become A Thing<\/p>\n
There\u2019s only so much homosexuality that a franchise can handle. So, I\u2019m sure if Season 3 doubles down on the Cate-May ship, they are going to balance things out with a heterosexual couple. Initially, I thought that they were going to turn Isabel and Kentaro into a couple, but I don\u2019t think they have any romantic feelings for each other. Also, since we have so many young, straight, cis-gendered couples in sci-fi movies and shows, Kentaro and Isabel\u2019s romance won\u2019t bring anything new to the table. Tim and Keiko, though, can be relatively interesting. Keiko is Tim\u2019s best friend\u2019s mother, and she is one of the OGs of Monarch that Tim idolizes. And when Tim told Keiko to be careful as she drove into the middle of the fight between Kong and Co-Cai, I felt something romantic going on between them. Hence, yeah, if Season 3 gets Tim and Keiko to be a couple, I won\u2019t be surprised at all. If that sounds too basic, here\u2019s a spicy theory: what if Hiroshi does come back from the dead and finds out that his mother is romancing his best friend? The version of Hiroshi that Kentaro is planning to bring to the surface of the planet won\u2019t be aware of the fact that Keiko is alive, because she survived the horrors of Axis Mundi. So, seeing her back in the flesh and romancing Tim will definitely make his head spin.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lee\u2019s Adventures With Rodan<\/p>\n
The biggest tease going into Season 3 of Monarch is that Rodan is somewhere in Thailand and Lee is pursuing the Titan for some unknown reason. It is safe to assume that Rodan is being pursued by Isabel and Kentaro because they want to access a rift, go into Axis Mundi, and execute their respective time-hole, time-travel plans. But what\u2019s Lee\u2019s deal? The big theory that Lee, Keiko, and Bill were working on was whether or not all the rifts were connected to each other. Since that\u2019s been proven to be true in Season 2, what else does Lee want? I genuinely don\u2019t know. Is he just following Rodan so that he can thwart Kentaro and Isabel whenever they try to approach the Titan? That sounds plausible. Does he intend to go into Axis Mundi, which is why he\u2019s waiting for Rodan to open a rift? It\u2019s possible, especially because I didn\u2019t see him carrying Suzuki\u2019s Titan-calling, rift-opening device. But, at his age, traveling to Axis Mundi, that too without a vessel of some sort, is extremely risky. So, I don\u2019t think that\u2019s what he\u2019s trying to do. Well, in that case, maybe he\u2019s just continuing Bill\u2019s work and studying the movement or hibernation patterns of Titans like Rodan. We have seen a lot of Godzilla and Kong on our big as well as small screens. The MonsterVerse\u2019s version of Rodan made its silver-screen debut in King of the Monsters from that volcano in Mexico, got its chest punctured by Mothra, and then it bowed down to Godzilla; that\u2019s it. So, how did Rodan get from Thailand to Mexico? How was it trapped in that Monarch outpost? Did Lee have a hand in it? Season 3 can totally answer these questions via a Lee-Rodan-centric plot.<\/p>\n
\u2018Kong: Skull Island\u2019 Character Cameos<\/p>\n
This is a bit of a stretch, but hear me out: James Conrad, Mason Weaver, San Lin, Houston Brooks, and Hank Marlow survived Monarch\u2019s trip to Skull Island in the \u201970s. The post credits scene in Skull Island clearly made it seem like they were poised to go on many more Titan-centric adventures on Monarch\u2019s behalf, and then we got nothing. Season 2 was littered with Easter Eggs and references to Skull Island. While talking about removing Keiko\u2019s anonymous plaque from Monarch\u2019s \u201cIn Memoriam\u201d wall, Reddick talked about certain higher-ups preventing him from doing so because they didn\u2019t want the world to know that Keiko was a time-traveler. We know that Reddick is the current director of Monarch. Then who\u2019s dictating decisions to him? My theory is that it\u2019s the aforementioned characters, and Season 3 should definitely bridge the gap between the \u201970s and 2019 (which is when Season 3 will be set, I guess) by bringing them back to the forefront. I know that Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, Jing Tian, Corey Hawkins, and John C. Reilly are heavy-hitters. They are pretty busy and booked. However, for the right price and plot, I am sure they\u2019d be willing to sign on the dotted line and show us how they contributed to the evolution of Monarch over the last few decades. I know that all these characters have a lot of fans. Why aren\u2019t you all campaigning for this? If you are, please be louder!<\/p>\n
\u2018King Of the Monsters\u2019 And \u2018Godzilla Vs. Kong\u2019 Character Cameos<\/p>\n
Regardless of how much I like Godzilla: King of the Monsters, I think there was a massive jump in terms of Monarch\u2019s involvement in Titan-related activities between 2014 and 2019. The Michael Dougherty film was high on entertainment value but very low on characterization. So, will it be too much to ask for Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga, Charles Dance, Ken Watanabe, and Zhang Ziyi to make some cameos? Yes, I know that\u2019s a tall order, but I think they are pretty essential to the story, especially since some of them must have been instrumental in the capture of Rodan, right? As mentioned before, the Chens were supposed to be the MonsterVerse\u2019s Shobijin, and Cate exhibiting Titan-communicating superpowers creates the perfect opportunity for them to make a proper return. There\u2019s so much lore to explore, and the shows have barely started to scratch the surface. Even if there\u2019s no plot-related reason, I want the aforementioned actors to interact with the talented cast of the show. Also, the arrival of Isabel has created fertile ground for cameos by Eiza Gonzalez and Deminan Bichir. Godzilla Vs. Kong gave us a barebones idea of what Apex did. The show also hasn\u2019t really explored Apex in detail (I understand why; the show is called Monarch, not Apex). But yeah, if Isabel and Kentaro want to find a rift, maybe they\u2019ll reach out to the Simmons and I\u2019ll get my cameos. The reason I\u2019m not hoping for cameos from Alexander Skarsgard, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, or Shun Oguri is because they are just too busy. If it happens though, I\u2019ll be a happy customer.<\/p>\n
Lee Shaw Spin-Off Theories<\/p>\n
In December 2025, Apple TV had announced that they were making a Lee Shaw-centric spin-off show with Wyatt Russell and Joby Harold at the helm. The synopsis stated that Lee would be traveling to the Soviet Union to prevent them from unleashing a Titan on the USA in order to gain the upper hand in the Cold War. Which, to be fair, does sound pretty intriguing. But given the current geopolitical conditions, I don\u2019t know if an American show can do an anti-USSR (which is essentially anti-Russia) plot. So, they might shift the narrative to some other country in order to align with the present-day political stance of the USA. I am not gonna name any countries that the show could be set in, because I don\u2019t want to get in trouble. But yeah, I think Wyatt is a great actor and I could watch him go on countless Titan-related adventures. His last scene in Monarch Season 2 made it seem like the MonsterVerse was bidding goodbye to Young Lee. After learning about this news, I think they are just putting a stop to exploring Lee via flashbacks. The old Lee is after Rodan and, until and unless Young Lee encountered Rodan in the \u201880s, there\u2019s no point in continuing the time period oscillation method of storytelling to flesh out the character. Old Lee can do his own thing in Monarch Season 3 and Young Lee can do his own thing in his spin-off show. With all that said, the chances of this spin-off show actually getting made are slim, in my opinion. The streaming platform has been bleeding money, and I don\u2019t know how long it can sustain this tradition of producing high quality, high budget shows. So, if the Lee Shaw spinoff isn\u2019t more espionage and less Titan action, it\u2019s getting cancelled. What do you think though? Let me know in the comments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At the time of writing this article, Apple TV, Toho, Legendary Television, and Warner Brothers haven\u2019t renewed Monarch…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":407183,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,111,139,69,437],"class_list":["post-407182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=407182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/407183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=407182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=407182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=407182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}