The ending of ‘The Planet of the Apes’, the classic 1968 film, has gone down in history as one of the most shocking in cinema. George Taylor (Charlton Heston) and Nova (Linda Harrison) explore the Forbidden Zone and ride along the coast smiling. At the end of the road the big revelation occurs: The colonel spots the remains of the Statue of Liberty and discovers that it has been on Earth all this time, that his travels saved him from the massacre and extinction of humanity, the same one that gave rise to the rise of the apes. However, the original script concluded on a more positive note.
Rod Serling’s draft was not filmable at the time due to technological reasons, so Michael Wilson was hired to review it and make some adjustments. To begin with, he determined that ape society would have to be more primitive than the one that appears in books, a decision that hid a compelling reason: to reduce costs and simplify filming. He also imbued the script with the satirical and social tone that has characterized the saga from the beginning. Be that as it may, the most interesting detail is that the ending of one of those scripts differed from the one that was finally recorded.
A ray of hope for humanity
It cannot be described as a happy ending because it implies the death of the protagonist, but it does give a more optimistic touch to the message. In this version, Taylor is killed by the apes just after catching a glimpse of the ruins of the Statue of Liberty. With everything, a pregnant Nova manages to escapewhich leaves a taste of hope for humanity: the possibility that new generations of intelligent humans will once again populate the Earth.
After ‘The Planet of the Apes’, the science fiction saga has had a long run in the cinema (this is the correct order to enjoy all the films). Meanwhile, the next film is about to be released in theaters: ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ will arrive on Friday, May 10 in theaters and MeriStation has already been able to speak with the leading stars.
In the interview, Freya Allan, Kevin Durand and Owen Toegue chat about their characters (Mae, Next Caesar and Noa), the challenges of playing these protagonists and the context of the story. The film is set 300 years after Caesar’s death.the first intelligent ape and one of the protagonists of ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’.
