Apple TV has cemented itself as the reigning sci-fi champion of the streaming wars, and with the upcoming Monarch: Legacy of Monsters season 2, the platform looks to hold onto their crown. 2025 was a banner year for sci-fi on Apple TV, with the highly anticipated return of Severance, and Pluribus becoming Apple TV’s most-watched show ever. However, 2026 could be even bigger, starting with Monarch season 2’s premiere on February 27.
All major players in the Monarch: Legacy of Monsters cast are returning, including Anna Sawai and Ren Watabe as half-siblings Cate and Kentaro, respectively, who are investigating the titular giant monster organization linked to their missing father. Father and son Kurt and Wyatt Russell will also be reprising their roles as Army officer Lee Shaw in two separate Legacy of Monsters timelines.
Perhaps more excitingly, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters season 2 will feature plenty of creatures, including a new threat and perennial favorites — and it’s precisely these monsters that give Apple TV a leg up in the streaming wars.
Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters Season 2 Looks Like A Movie
The official trailer for Monarch: Legacy of Monsters season 2 just dropped today, and the sophomore installment looks to be as massive as the show’s giant monsters themselves. With much of the action taking place on Skull Island, a new creature — for now known as Titan X — threatens humanity, and it’s up to Godzilla and Kong to team up and save the day.
Those unfamiliar with Monarch: Legacy of Monsters will be forgiven if they thought that the show was a movie, based on the trailer. Godzilla and Kong have long been icons of the silver screen, and the highly successful Monsterverse movies only further boosts their profile for new generations.
It’s a current trend in the streaming landscape for TV show creators to refer to their seasons as “a series of mini movies“, often to justify bloated episode runtimes, à la Stranger Things season 5. However, with its massive scope and big-budget VFX, this appears to be an apt term for Monarch: Legacy of Monsters season 2.
Budget Has Not Been A Problem For Apple TV
Early in 2025, it was reported that Apple TV was losing a whopping $1 billion a year on their streaming efforts. This staggering a loss would send most companies running as far from the streaming landscape as fast as they can, but thanks to the vast coffers of its parent tech company, the platform can afford the hit.
Though there were reports back in 2024 that they were allegedly scaling back, and this led to worry that Apple TV’s budget cuts would lead to cancellations of fan-favorite series, Apple’s streaming branch continues to deliver expensive prestige series, including Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.
Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters Is Competing Against Blockbuster Films
Though Monarch: Legacy of Monsters clearly doesn’t have anything to worry about from a financial standpoint, it still faces direct competition from its own franchise. Since the 2014 Godzilla reboot, the Monsterverse movies have been some of the biggest blockbuster events in Hollywood. Appetite for the Monsterverse hasn’t died down either, as the latest film, 2024’s Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, is the highest-grossing movie in the franchise, taking in $572 million at the worldwide box office (via Box Office Mojo).
After 12 years of eye-popping spectacle, Monterverse fans won’t settle for anything that feels smaller or less polished than what they see on the big screen. With the next movie, Godzilla x Kong: Supernova, set for release just over a year away in March 2027, the pressure is even higher for Monarch: Legacy of Monsters to deliver.
How Apple TV Is Elevating Science Fiction
Thankfully, Monsterverse fans can breathe easy thanks to Monarch: Legacy of Monsters being an Apple TV property. The streamer may have unlimited finances to throw at their TV shows, but Apple TV became the best streamer for sci-fi precisely by opting for a quality vs. quantity approach. They may spend big bucks on their sci-fi series, but they almost always deliver a stellar product.
This can be seen in the array of subgenres Apple TV explores with their sci-fi shows. They cover dystopia in Silo, psychological sci-fi in Severance, space opera in Foundation, and action in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. 2026 will be an especially exciting year for cyberpunk fans, as Apple TV’s lineup includes the long-awaited television adaptation of William Gibson’s iconic 1984 novel, Neuromancer.
The glut of streaming platforms and their TV shows may have resulted in the end of the New Golden Age of Television, but in terms of sci-fi, Apple TV is just beginning, with the platform announcing dominance in the genre louder than any creature in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.
- Release Date
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November 16, 2023
- Network
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Apple TV
- Showrunner
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Chris Black, Matt Fraction
- Directors
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Julian Holmes, Matt Shakman, Mairzee Almas, Andy Goddard, Hiromi Kamata
- Writers
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Al Letson, Karl Taro Greenfeld, Chris Black, Mariko Tamaki, Amanda Overton, Andrew Colville, Matt Fraction, Milla Bell-Hart
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Kiersey Clemons
May Hewitt