It’s been a while since we last stepped foot into the MonsterVerse, with Monarch: Legacy of Monsters airing its first season in late 2023 and early 2024, and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire following in April 2024. While the latter movie’s sequel, Godzilla x Kong: Supernova, isn’t hitting theaters until 2027, the former show’s second season is only a few months away from premiering on the 2026 TV schedule. Ahead of that, however, it’s been announced that Lee Shaw, one of the Apple TV subscription-exclusive series’ lead characters, is getting his own spinoff show, and I’m excited by what’s being planned for him.
Apple TV has revealed that Wyatt Russell, who plays the younger Lee Shaw, will star in and executive produce a spinoff that follows his character in 1984. Per the official synopsis, Lee is sent “on a secret mission behind enemy lines in an attempt to stop the Soviets from unleashing a horrific new Titan big enough to destroy the U.S. and turn the tide of the Cold War.” Joby Harold, one of the Monarch: Legacy of Monsters executive producers, has been tapped to be the showrunner on this untitled spinoff, as well as the entirety of the MonsterVerse’s Apple TV offerings.
Monarch fans who keep a close eye on the MonsterVerse timeline know that this spinoff will take place two years after Lee Shaw returned from Axis Mundy, the world between Earth and Hollow Earth. Lee embarked into that place with his team in 1962 and was the only survivor, but he came out in 1982. Because time flows differently in Axis Mundi, he hadn’t aged and it only felt like he’d been in there for a week. Lee was subsequently put into an assisted living community near Mount Fuji by the Monarch agency under house arrest.
Now, from the way it was presented in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 1, Lee, played as an older man by Kurt Russell, went on to have an uneventful life until he saw the footage of Godzilla fighting the MUTO in 2014. Evidently not so much, as this spinoff will pull back the curtain on this intriguing mission he was sent on, presumably by Monarch, that required him to venture into Soviet territory. Considering the Titans Lee had already faced in the late ‘50s and early’ 60s, Godzilla included, I look forward to seeing what’s so special about this particular Titan that made Monarch desperate enough to pull Lee out of that facility.
It will likely be a while until the Lee Shaw spinoff hits Apple TV, but the good news is we’ll see both the younger and older versions of the character in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 2. It’s still unclear how the Wyatt’s Russell’s Lee will factor into the next batch of episodes, but evidently Kurt Russell’s Lee managed to survive the Season 1 finale, where he sacrificed himself so that Cate, May and Keiko could escape from Axis Mundi. Season 2 will also allow fans to spend more time on Skull Island in the pre-Godzilla vs. Kong days, as evidenced by the giant gorilla’s presence.
We’ll keep you apprised of more details about this Lee Shaw spinoff as they come in. For now, Monarch Season 2 premieres on Apple TV February 27, and we’ll get more big screen MonsterVerse action with Godzilla x Kong: Supernova’s release on March 26, 2027.
