Kei, I gotta tell you — you look exactly as you’ve always looked in my mind’s eye all these years. Exactly — aged Lee Shaw.
The time-crossed Lee and Keiko reunite in Apple TV+’s Monarch: Legacy of Monsters season finale.
Mari Yamamoto’s Dr. Keiko Miura thinks she’s been stranded in the Axis Mundi for only 57 days and is devastated to learn that it’s been 56 years on the surface.
Kurt Russell’s Lee Shaw keeps his aged self hidden behind a tree until Keiko does the math. Only then does he come out to hug her.
It’s hard to convince Keiko to return to the surface where her husband Billie is dead and she’s missed decades of her son Hiroshi’s life, but her granddaughter Cate convinces her to join them in the Operation Hourglass capsule from Lee’s first trip to the Axis Mundi in 1962.
But when a cable to the Titan lure is dislodged, Lee gets out to plug it back in. Keiko tries to save Lee but he falls from her grip as the capsule is sucked into the portal — a mirror image of Wyatt Russell’s Lee trying to save Keiko in 1959.
It’s all right, Kei…thank you for everything — Lee.
Is this the end of the Lee and Keiko story? Probably, since Kurt and Wyatt Russell are not likely to return if Monarch: Legacy of Monsters gets a season 2.
How many monsters are there in the finale?
Godzilla and the Ion Dragon:
Plus King Kong shows up at the end on 2017 Skull Island.
What’s the series about?
Following the thunderous battle between Godzilla and the Titans in San Francisco that was depicted in the BC-filmed 2014 blockbuster Godzilla,, the series explores one family’s journey to uncover its buried secrets and a legacy linking them to the secret organization known as Monarch.
Clues lead them into the world of monsters and ultimately down the rabbit hole to Army officer Lee Shaw (Wyatt Russell and Kurt Russell ), taking place in the 1950s and half a century later when Monarch is threatened by what Shaw knows.
The series spans three generations and reveals buried secrets.
The Lee and Keiko Story:
1952 Manilla in the Philippines
Army officer Lee Shaw (Wyatt Russell) reports to General Puckett (Christopher Heyerdahl) in Manilla after a bar fight, filmed in Ladner near Westham Island in July 2022..
Army officer Lee Shaw meets Dr. Keiko Miura. (Mari Yamamoto) in the Philippines, filmed on the Steveston docks in July 2022.
1953 Manilla in the Philippines, filmed at Delta’s Boundary Bay Airport.
Cast of Godzilla’s footprint.
1955 Washington D.C.: Lee and Keiko dance at the American Defence Industry’ Federation’s Summer Ball, filmed in the Permanent Event Venue in downtown Vancouver,
Background actors outside the Permanent Event venue in downtown Vancouver.
1955: Godzilla emerges in a splashy reappearance, filmed partly in what looks like Pitt Meadows, BC.
We didn’t kill it. Jesus Christ we didn’t kill it. — Lee..
1959 Kazakhstan: Keiko’s “death”, with the Fraser Valley playing the Central Asian country.
Lee tries to save Keiko.
1962 Kansas: Operation Hourglass:.
Lee’s mission to the Axis Mundi goes array.
He’s only in the Axis Mundi for a day or so before another portal sucks him back to the surface.
1982 Japan: Lee learns 20 years has passed on the surface when he meets adult Hiroshi.
1982 – 2015 Japan :Monarch’s retirement home/prison where Wyatt Russell’s Lee ages into Kurt Russell’s Lee over 33 years.
Lee escapes the retirement home with help from Keiko’s grandchildren Cate and Kentaro,, along with May.
2015 Kazakhstan: Older Lee Shaw falls into the portal , trying to rescue Cate from the Endopede.
He ends up in the Titans world (Axis Mundi) looking for Cate with May.
Cate is saved from a Titan by her own grandmother Keiko who hasn’t aged since 1959.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters – Season One.
Episodes: 10.
Working Titles: Godzilla & the Titans, Hourglass, Monarch.
BC filming dates: June 27 2022 – December 15 2022.
Related: Apple TV+ Series Godzilla and the Titans to Film in Vancouver This Summer/Fall
Showrunner: Chris Black.
Cast: Kurt Russell, Wyatt Russell, Anna Sawai, Ren Watabe, Kiersey Clemons, Mari Yamamoto, Anders Holm, Joe Tippett, Elisa Lasowski.
Others: John Goodman, Christopher Heyerdahl, Takehiro Hira.
Producers: Legendary Television, Safehouse Pictures, Apple TV+.