Monarch: Legacy of Monsters showrunner Chris Black details John Goodman’s concern with returning as Bill Randa, but hopes to have him back.
Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS for Monarch: Legacy of Monsters season 1
Summary
- John Goodman's return to Monarch: Legacy of Monsters was a welcome surprise, as he has not been seen in the MonsterVerse since 2017's Kong: Skull Island.
- Goodman had reservations about returning, mainly regarding whether he could deliver the character needed for the show due to his personal weight loss and the time that had passed since his previous role.
- The potential for Goodman's return in Season 2 opens up exciting opportunities to explore Bill Randa's story and his ties to Skull Island, potentially diving into the early 1970s timeline.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters season 1 opened with the return of a legend. Not Godzilla; John Goodman. The actor, known in recent years for his role as Eli Gemstone in Max’s megachurch takedown comedy The Righteous Gemstones, has been in four times more films and television shows than the atomic Titan, including the Coen Brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis and The Big Lebowski as well as the smash Pixar franchise Monsters Inc. Most relevant to Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, however, is Goodman’s role in Kong: Skull Island (2017) as a down-on-his-luck Bill Randa, a high-ranking official of the MonsterVerse’s shadowy Monarch organization.
Goodman’s appearance in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters was brief, with the actor soon ceding the character to Anders Holm, who played a younger take on Kong: Skull Island’s Bill Randa. Still, Goodman’s return was a welcome surprise; just as surprising is the revelation that Goodman himself had reservations about returning. Monarch: Legacy of Monsters showrunner Chris Black detailed Goodman’s main concern about reprising his role as Bill Randa during a recent interview with Screen Rant, even as he stressed his willingness to see Goodman return. Here’s what he had to say:
Chris Black: Again, I can't speak to what may or may not happen in future seasons, but we would love to have John again. He's great. He's a brilliant actor. He's an iconic member of the MonsterVerse. It was not hard to get him. I think he was excited to do it. He was more concerned whether he could bring what we wanted, because obviously that movie was a few years ago. He’s gotten much healthier in his personal life in the interim, he's lost quite a bit of weight, and so the main thing was [that] he was really concerned that he wasn't going to be able to deliver the character that we needed for the show. In terms of getting him to agree to do it, we shot those scenes in Hawaii, and he came to Hawaii right before Christmas. He was a delight.
How John Goodman Could Play Into The Perfect Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters Season 2 Story
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters’ title doesn’t feature Godzilla, and the end-of-season introduction of none other than King Kong makes it clear why the Titan was omitted. Kong’s introduction is also a fantastic opportunity to set up John Goodman’s return; although Bill Randa is long dead by the time Monarch: Legacy of Monsters’ modern timeline introduces the giant gorilla, the character’s ties to Skull Island would make him a fitting inclusion in a potential season 2.
There is also plenty of Bill Randa’s story left to tell in a Monarch: Legacy of Monsters season 2. At some point, the character has to go from Anders Holm’s passionate idealist to John Goodman’s desperate adventurer, and with Lee Shaw’s death in the season 1 finale, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters season 2 has an opportunity to replicate its Kurt and Wyatt Russell juggling act with Goodman and Holm. A main structural component of the series is how it jumps between timelines, and bringing both Holm and Goodman back into the fold can further explore Randa’s downfall from both ends of the spectrum.
The primary issue with spending a lot of time with Goodman and Holm would be that Monarch: Legacy of Monsters would become a three-timeline series. The season 1 finale set up fascinating stories to come in the show’s modern timeline, and Anders Holm would anchor a continuation of the series’ 1950s timeline. Throwing Goodman in the mix in a real way would likely necessitate an exploration of the early 1970s, as his Bill Randa is killed on Skull Island in 1973. Still, sequels are often known for being bigger than the original, and as Monarch: Legacy of Monsters season 1 has shown, its creators are experts at crafting compelling stories across multiple decades.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters
The Legendary MonsterVerse continues with Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, a sci-fi action series created for Apple TV+. Set after the events of Godzilla vs. Kong, the series follows two siblings retracing their father's footsteps to uncover the truth behind their family legacy. What they find sets up a story over three decades and explores the foundations of the mysterious company.
