Where does HBO’s Chernobyl fit into Godzilla’s MonsterVerse?
To someone who’s not an expert in the Godzilla mythos these are confusing times. Not only is there a new movie about the creature mutated by radiation coming out, there’s now also an HBO show about the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl airing. We’re not surprised a lot of our readers are asking how the two are connected, given Legendary Pictures’ efforts in expanding Godzilla’s MonsterVerse. Allow us to explain.
The Godzilla movie currently showing in cinemas is Godzilla: King of the Monsters. It has no connection to the 1998 version with Matthew Broderick, and is instead a sequel to 2014’s equally unmemorable reboot. As we all know the title monster has become mutated by radiation. If you are thinking: right, so Chernobyl is a prequel to the reboot… then you would be wrong. Allow us to explain further.
Not only is Godzilla: King of the Monsters a sequel to the reboot of the 1998 film, it is also an American version of the Japanese movie series. That series debuted in 1954 with Gojira, and revealed that Godzilla was mutated as a result of nuclear tests. Right, you’re thinking, and the American reboot altered this so Godzilla was created during the Chernobyl disaster. Again, no. Please stop testing our patience, and let us explain further.
If you are under the impression that HBO’s Chernobyl will end with a lizard (?) growing into a giant monster, then brace yourself for disappointment. You might say the MonsterVerse is real, and that more Godzilla movies are being planned! And you would be right, but we promise you none of that has anything to do with HBO’s Chernobyl series. Perhaps you’re fuzzy on the details, because what you’re thinking of is not this TV show, but Godzilla vs. Kong.
That’s right, that article you vaguely remember reading was not talking about connecting the Chernobyl miniseries to Godzilla, but in fact the King Kong mythos. That is, the King Kong from 2017’s Kong: Skull Island, which rebooted Peter Jackson’s 2005 remake of the 1933’s King Kong.
We hope everything is clear now. If you have other movie-related questions, let us know. Do keep in mind we already explained the differences between Tully and Sully.
I liked more the Godzilla from year 2014 (with Juliette Binoche and Bryan Cranston) than the last movie about godzilla – Godzilla king of the monsters
No Godzilla fan even wants to think of the cinematic travesty that is the Matthew Broderick version. Also the 2014 and 2019 American films are not a lizard that was mutated by radiation, the creatures (minus Ghidorah) were thousands if not hundreds of thousands of years old and they fed on radiation that had once been plentiful on the surface but they had to go deep into the earth to reach it after a period of time. Once humans began making weapons that were bringing more radiation to the surface, the creatures followed.