Monarch Producer Shares Details On What’s In Store For Keiko In Season 2, And It’s Giving Me Captain America Vibes

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In the first episode of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Keiko, played by Mari Yamamoto, appeared to die in 1959. The show continued to feature her in flashbacks set earlier in the MonsterVerse timeline, but the season premiere’s finale, “Axis Mundi,” revealed she was not only still alive, but hadn’t aged. By the end of Season 1, Keiko resurfaced in the present day, which is now 2017 within the show’s timeline. Executive producer Tory Tunnell has hinted that Season 2 will delve into Keiko’s unusual situation – similar to Captain America being frozen in time – and is expected to premiere in 2026.

I’ve been thinking about Keiko’s situation, and it’s fascinatingly complex. It reminds me a little of Captain America – he was frozen during World War II and woke up much later, still alive thanks to the super-soldier serum. But Keiko’s experience is different; time works differently where she was, so only two months passed for her. Still, when she reappears, it’s been almost sixty years since she vanished! I was reading an interview with Tunnell in SFX about how this long absence will put Keiko in some really tough emotional spots, and I’m incredibly curious to see how they explore that.

This show offers a truly special storytelling experience you won’t find anywhere else. Our unique approach to time, with the ‘Axis Mundi’ rules, lets the main character explore her past relationships – and even interact with those people at different points in their lives, right here in the present. This creates a lot of interesting questions and forces her to re-examine everything. Plus, the pressure of a ticking clock adds a really exciting and fast-paced element that feels fresh and new.

My whole world flipped upside down when I, Keiko, finally met Lee Shaw again in Axis Mundi – he’d aged so much! It was there I discovered my husband, Bill Randa, had actually passed away a long time ago. Then, to top it off, I met my granddaughter, Cate, alongside May. Coming back to the surface was even more shocking – I reunited with my son, Hiroshi, who’s now older than me! And my grandson, Kentaro, was there too. It was all just… a lot to take in. Especially seeing all these Monarch people together on Skull Island, and then having to hide from Kong during a massive storm. Honestly, it was completely overwhelming.

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Similar to how Captain America is seen as a person out of place in modern times, Keiko unexpectedly finds herself in the future, where almost everyone she once knew is gone. She’ll have to rebuild relationships with the few people who are still alive, while also forming new ones. All of this happens while dealing with the latest challenges from the Titans – not just Godzilla and Kong, but a new, mysterious monster called Titan X.

When Monarch: Legacy of Monsters returns on February 27th, we can expect some really interesting character development with the character Keiko. Plus, the MonsterVerse is growing! A new prequel series focusing on Lee Shaw, set in the 1980s, will be coming to Apple TV+. If you want to rewatch the original MonsterVerse films, you’ll need a subscription to HBO Max.

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2026-01-24 16:38