The American Roland Emmerich Godzilla movie from 1998 was met with a mixed bag of criticism upon its release but almost unanimously Godzilla fans everywhere have excluded the film as a legitimate Godzilla movie - albeit a good Monster movie, just not one deserving of the Godzilla moniker. For this and other reasons, a sequel was never pursued - however plans for a sequel were tossed around behind the scenes.
In a recent interview between Yahoo! and producer Dean Devlin, he reveals the initial plan for a Godzilla '98 sequel would have taken us to Monster Island - and their approach with Godzilla/Zilla would have been to make him more of a hero, rather than the neutral mutant Iguana just trying to survive.
We decided that Godzilla was neither good nor evil -- it was just an animal looking to reproduce. It was a threat to us because it puts us at risk in order to survive. That's an interesting way to approach it, but it doesn't tell the audience how they're supposed to feel about the title character.
We really wanted to go to Monster Island. In the original Godzilla movies, Godzilla started off as a monster, but became a hero by the time Monster Island was introduced.
Dean Devlin went on to jokingly express that he had PTSD from working on Godzilla (1998) and opted not to watch the (much better) American adaptation by Gareth Edwards in 2014.
More to explore from the Monsterverse:
- About Godzilla x Kong: Supernova
- Godzilla x Kong: Supernova forum
- Godzilla x Kong: Supernova Image Gallery
- Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 2
- Spin-off Godzilla series
Godzilla x Kong: Supernova will hit theaters on March 26th, 2027!
More to explore from Toho:
- Godzilla Minus One sequel now in development!