A new Godzilla show set in the MonsterVerse has been announced, and it’ll be airing on Apple TV+ rather than HBO Max. While there normally wouldn’t be anything odd about that, considering Warner Bros.’ involvement with the MonsterVerse, it might feel a little weird for a Godzilla show to not go to its signature streaming service. However, the actual logic behind the decision makes complete sense.
The upcoming Godzilla series will be a live-action series created by Chris Black and Matt Fraction. The basic plot of the series is that sometime after the first Godzilla movie, a family begins to investigate a hidden legacy of theirs that connects them to Monarch. Not much else is known about the show, not even the title, but considering that it was just announced, more information is bound to be given out in the future.
Despite Legendary Entertainment's MonsterVerse being distributed by Warner Bros., the show is set to release on Apple TV+, not HBO Max, but it makes sense for something like that to happen. While Warner Bros. distributes the MonsterVerse, they only co-produce it, and the ones who are actually in charge of the franchise are Legendary Entertainment. Since Legendary Entertainment is a separate company from Warner Bros., they aren’t obligated to produce content for anything owned by Warner Bros., so a new Godzilla show doesn’t automatically have to go to HBO Max.
There’s already an established precedent for Legendary Entertainment doing this with the upcoming Skull Island show. Skull Island will also be set in the MonsterVerse, but it’s set to stream exclusively on Netflix, not HBO Max. That sets a precedent for shows in the MonsterVerse not having to go to one specific streaming platform, and as such, it makes sense that the upcoming Godzilla show wouldn’t be obligated to go to HBO Max, as well.
As for why Legendary Entertainment would be doing this, it could be an attempt to have the MonsterVerse reach a wider audience. While the new Godzilla show would likely gain more than decent traction if it were on HBO Max, going to a different streaming service like Apple TV+ will allow for a different audience to get invested in the MonsterVerse; that same reasoning is likely behind the decision for Skull Island being on Netflix, as well. The decision to have the new Godzilla show launch on Apple TV+ is a clear attempt to further spread the MonsterVerse brand, which is ultimately the studios' prerogative.