Godzilla vs. Kong never planned to explain why Serizawa's son was evil, according to the film’s director Adam Wingard. Having premiered in theaters and on HBO Max on March 31, the latest installment in Legendary’s MonsterVerse franchise enjoyed one of the best domestic box office runs of any film released during the pandemic, only recently being dethroned by A Quiet Place Part II. Godzilla vs. Kong took a huge risk releasing at the time that it did, and it absolutely paid off, grossing $440 million globally.
Godzilla vs. Kong received praise for its highly-anticipated face off between the two Titans, though it was criticized for its failure to provide any character development or human drama. This is a common critique for MonsterVerse movies, which have been more about the visual spectacle than character moments. One of Godzilla vs. Kong’s biggest missteps was the failure to flesh out the connection between Ishiro Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) and Ren Serizawa (Shun Oguri), which left many viewers confused. Now, the film’s director reveals they never even intended to elaborate on the relationship between these two characters.
In a recent Reddit AMA, Godzilla vs. Kong director Adam Wingard was asked why the connection between Ishiro Serizawa and his son Ren wasn’t explicit in the movie. The director says they simply didn’t have enough time to develop their backstories amidst all the monster mayhem, and instead wanted the connection between them to remain mysterious. Read Wingard’s full response below:
"Just didn't have the time in the plot to get more into it. Felt interesting leaving it mysterious. I hear the novelization expands on that. I need to check it out. I hear it has a lot of scenes that were never even in the script. Should be cool to see that take, also I hope it expands on the monsters inner thoughts."
Though not explicit in Godzilla vs. Kong, one of the film’s villains Ren Serizawa is the son of the Monarch scientist Ishiro Serizawa who sacrificed himself to save Godzilla in King of the Monsters. This begs the question as to why his son begins working for Apex against the interests of his family’s legacy. The movie doesn't provide any answer, which certainly feels like a misstep. And it's frustrating to learn there was never any plan to explain Ren's choices in the film, making it almost meaningless to have his character related to Serizawa in the first place.
As Wingard said in his AMA, the Serizawas' relationship is expanded on in the film’s novelization. The reason given for Ren’s villainous turn is that when he was a child, Ishiro was an absent father because he was fully committed to researching the Titans for Monarch, which caused his son to grow resentful of them, especially Godzilla. Wingard’s explanation for why this is absent from the movie makes some sense, since the MonsterVerse’s human characters often take a backseat to the monsters, but is it curious why the attempt to explain Ren's motive was never even made in Godzilla vs. King.
Source: Adam Wingard