Andy Serkis was honoured to help usher in a new era in the Planet of the Apes franchise by serving as a consultant on the next film.

The British actor, who played ape leader Caesar using performance capture technology in the previous trilogy, was honoured to be asked to offer up his expertise to the Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes team.

“These films mean such a lot to me and obviously, over the course of playing Caesar over three films, the chance to work further on another part of the journey was amazing,” he said during a Q&A as part of the U.K. launch event in London on Thursday.

Speaking directly to director Wes Ball, he added, “Wes, thank you so much for asking me to become a consultant on the movie.”

Serkis, who has previously played Gollum in The Lord of the Rings and King Kong via motion capture, portrayed the chimpanzee Caesar in the reboot trilogy, from 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes to 2017’s War for the Planet of the Apes.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is set “many generations later” in a world where the apes run civilization and humans are feral.

Serkis explained that he helped Ball and the team figure out how the apes might have evolved in the time jump between films.

“What I think Wes wanted, what hopefully I was able to bring, was… (figuring out) how they would then convey and articulate themselves through language and physically how they might have changed,” he shared. “All these questions that Wes wanted to engage with was what I was there for.

“And then to work with these lovely people to try and bring those pieces together. Also, of course, the whole technical aspect of it, the performance capture aspect of it, sort of demystifying it. There’s no mystery behind it really, it’s acting.”

Serkis highlighted how the motion capture technology has improved between films, enabling Ball and the crew to shoot on location more than ever before. He also noted that the look and texture of the apes has evolved to make them “even more believable and reflect the authorship of the actors’ performances”.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, starring Owen Teague, Freya Allen and Kevin Durand, will be released in cinemas from 9 May.

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