Mae in KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES: Analyzing the Character’s Complex Journey

2024 has already been a year of great films AND great characters. Original films like I SAW THE TV GLOW, CIVIL WAR, and HIT MAN have delivered excellence AND incredibly, so have the studio’s franchise films, with standouts including DUNE: PART 2, FURIOSA, THE FIRST OMEN, INSIDE OUT 2, and KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES. And (maybe shockingly) it is KINGDOM OF POTA that has a character that, in my opinion at least, sits at the top of the list of all characters that we have seen in films so far this year. And that character is Mae.

Part of the fun of watching KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES is seeing Mae’s character arc unfold. And spoilers ahead for the film and of course, for Mae. In fact, I am not going to recap the entire film here but rather focus on Mae’s arc. So if you have not seen the film, do yourself a favor and watch it. It is one of the best entries in the entire 9 film series. And Mae’s arc is essentially the “Statue of Liberty reveal” in this film – the big “twist” that ended PLANET OF THE APES way back in 1968. In fact, Apes films were known for delivering twists in each their original five film cycle during the 60s and 70s. And to be honest, one of the reasons that her character’s evolution and twist works so well is that Rupert Wyatt and Matt Reeves’ three film reboot cycle largely eschewed the “twist” element of APES film narratives (maybe because Tim Burton’s twist in his year 2000 reboot was so poorly received) in favor of more straightforward, though excellent, storytelling. 

Wes Ball’s KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES is both an extension of the Wyatt/Reeves trilogy but also sets itself up as the first installment of its own new APES trilogy as it is set about 500 years after Reeves’ last installment. Mae is a human (also called a “Nova” or an “Echo” by the intelligent apes inhabiting planet earth) and the principal human character in this film. Other humans are now hunter/gatherer tribes with diminished mental capacity and having lost the ability to speak and communicate, similar to their state in the original PLANET OF THE APES in 1968 when Charleton Heston’s Taylor showed up. Taylor was ostensibly the lead in this film and humans were always a major part of the original five film Apes cycle in the 1960’s and 70’s. Similar to their eschewing of twists, Wyatt/Reeves largely eschewed human characters in lead roles, instead making them supplementary to the Apes’ own character journeys and arcs. Even James Franco in RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES is there to assist Caesar in his ultimate journey to become the intelligent leader of the apes. And while I loved the Wyatt/Reeves films, I really missed that human element. But Wes Ball, and writer Josh Friedman, brings the human element back to the APES franchise, making Mae a pivotal part of this film and one of the co-leads.

In fact, when I was watching the film – I knew something more was going on than what might be superficially revealed. This was largely because of Josh Friedman’s presence as a creative on the film. I loved Wes Ball’s work on the Maze Runner series – and while the film had some twists, they were not quite at the level of Mae’s circumstances in KPOTA. Friedman wrote two excellent reworking and expansions of existing properties: Steven Spielberg’s WAR OF THE WORLDS remake as well as AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER. But he also wrote TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES and Netflix’s LOCKE AND KEY for TV, both show that had a unique relationship to their source material that both honored and expanded upon them and created organic twists and turns for fans that thought they were already familiar with the pre-existing works. And I actually think Wes Ball was the perfect director to deliver Friedman’s complex narrative in that he would not try to get cute with it, but deliver it in a very superficial (and I say that in the most complimentary way possible) and efficient manager that would preserve its reveals.

Speaking of preserving reveals, even though Mae was advertised as having the ability to speak in the tv commercials and trailers before KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, which upset some – including myself, initially, it is not her ability to speak that is the big reveal of her character. Her journey remains a refreshing surprise as 1.) she is a principal character and not just a supporting character meant to enhance the story of the apes 2.) our understanding of her motivations continually evolve. In fact when I originally saw her on the poster for KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, I thought she was a supplementary character, maybe similar to Nova in WAR OF THE PLANET OF THE APES or Dreyfus or Malcolm in DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES.

As we get to know more and more of her in the film, and see how pivotal she becomes to the story at large as well as Noa and Rocca’s journeys (the two lead apes of the film), I began to care for her more and more – not only as a character but as to how her evolving situation would affect Noa and his “Eagle Clan” after they had been captured by Proximus Caesar and his minions.

Let’s map Mae’s ongoing reveal in the film: what the characters knew, what the audience knew, and where Mae actually was during each phase of the film:

1. Noa and Rocca encounter Mae As An Unintelligent Human.
   • They, and the audience, view Mae as an unintelligent human aka an “echo” or “nova”. Noa rejects her as a nuisance in their journey, akin to a stray dog following you down the street, but Rocca counsels Noa to “show mercy”.
   • At this point, if the audience has seen the trailer, they know she is hiding the ability to speak though her situation, where she comes from, etc… is unknown.
   • Also, just in a prima facie manner, we can see that Mae is “different” from other Echos. Rocca quickly realizes she is smarter than some. But she also dresses differently, wearing a tank top and pants instead of the rags and toga-like dress of other humans in the film.

2. Noa and Rocca realize that Mae has the ability to speak.
   • It is important to note that Mae reveals her ability to speak ONLY when she is in a life-threatening situation, getting cornered by Proximus’ Caesar’s thugs – and needs Noa’s help to escape. She reveals this presumably out of necessity – and not out of actual trust.
   • Prior to this, what was her motivation for ingratiating herself as a dumb Echo or Nova to Noa and Rocca?
     • I assume it was to team up with two benign apes to get to the Coronado Bay facility where Proximus’ Kingdom was set up – and where Noa’s Eagle Clan was being “held”. She may have not known its exact location and even if she did, it was probably safer for her to be in a group so that she not be attacked by other ape factions – be they Proximus or something else.
     • Also presumably the reason she did not reveal her intelligence prior to this moment was to ensure that if Noa or Rocca were caught by Proximus’ thugs, they would not reveal that they were traveling with an intelligent human – something the thugs were actively searching for.
     • Lastly, Mae was presumably attacked and clearly went through something violent or scary as is revealed by her continuing emotional response – and wild distrust of apes.
   • At this point, Mae says that while there were others like her, Proximus’ thugs killed her family and that she was the only one to survive – a story that will soon be debunked, and debunked again.
   • Mae to Noa and Rocca is something special here, an ally and perhaps an evolution – a way to fight Proximus in the short run but possibly to create a new society in the long run.

3. Proximus reveals to Noa that Mae has ulterior motives.
   • When Noa and Mae are separated from Rocca (who may or may not survive his unfortunate trip down the river) towards the end of the second act, they are taken as prisoners to Proximus Caesar’s kingdom. When they arrive at the kingdom, Proximus invites both of them to an audience with him where he reveals that Mae was traveling with a clan of people (potentially not a family – though that is unspecified) who had a specific purpose: to find the Coronado Bay facility and to presumably open it and take its contents, ensuring that the apes would not.
   • At this point, the audience still may think that Mae is not some kind of an operative but a member of a family that may have known about this facility and wanted to get inside of it to get something… (though what that might be is unspecified).
   • There are still many questions about Mae at this point, some of which are never answered in the film – though presumably we have hints by the end of the film. Who was she traveling with, if the story of her mother getting killed was true, if she ever was traveling or living with a family.
   • Again, none of any of the reveals undermines the underlying fact that Mae was presumably attacked and clearly went through something violent or scary as is revealed by her emotional response and wild distrust of apes.
   • Mae to Noa is now an untrustworthy, lying Echo – no longer worthy of being an ally.

4. Mae reveals to Noa (some of) her ACTUAL intentions.
   1. Mae tells Noa that she was originally trying to get into the Coronado Bay facility to get something “like a book” that will “give humans the ability to communicate” again.
      1. It is important to note that she speaks in metaphor here – again not telling Noa everything.
      2. Noa here admits that “the more she talks, the less he trusts her” – as even he knows she is spinning at this point
   2. I also say “some” here because she clearly does not mention to Noa everything that she knows nor does she really let him know how much she clearly hates the apes.
   3. Noa here only cares whether or not she is willing to work with him and the Eagle clan to get into the Coronado Bay facility before Proximus can – and whether or not they can destroy its contents. To that, she agrees and they make a temporary truce.
   4. Mae to Noa is now an enemy of a shared enemy (Proximus) – and potentially an ally again and the two, along with the remnants of the Eagle clan, will work together to gain access to the Coronado Bay facility.

4. Mae Is Both An Intelligent And Cunning Human With Her Own Agenda – And Potentially The Enemy
   • This last reveal is something really interesting in that it occurs through multiple steps that are continually revealed throughout this third act sequence of the vault robbery and subsequent flood of the vault. Here are the steps and how her ultimate motivation is slowly revealed to the audience:
     1. Mae breaks into the facility with Noa and the Eagle clan – she is still an ally.
     2. Mae immediately goes off on her own, grabs a gun and seemingly knows exactly what to do and how to use it – we begin to suspect Mae is more than she has let on.
     3. Meanwhile, Noa and the Eagle Clan find a book and discover the history of the apes – that they were once without the ability to speak and subservient to humans – which Mae confirms. Suddenly their core relationship is on shaky ground.
     4. Mae and Noa and the clan try to escape but are ambushed by Proximus.
     5. Mae kills an ape, rescuing Noa’s friend – revealing that she knows how to use guns and is willing to kill to survive (as she did with Trevathan previously).
     6. She is allowed to escape and leave all of the apes inside the vault with the loot. She takes advantage of Proximus’ momentary wavering – and decides to blow up the dam at the beach, thereby flooding and destroying the contents of the Coronado Bay vault – even though it will likely result in the death of the Eagle Clan AND Proximus and his thugs – along with the contents of the vault. We now know Mae’s ultimate objective is to destroy the vault at all costs, even with a potential ally and friend Noa in the crosshairs of the path of destruction.
        • Interestingly, Noa’s relationship with Mae now transforms again. As he realizes she is not even a strong ally anymore. He now realizes that Mae is ultimately out for herself primarily, even at the expense of his and his clan’s life – and her objectives of taking down Proximus. Like many humans, she will do anything to survive – something that Noa apparently learns and mirrors when he lets one of Proximus’ henchmen gorillas die in the flood.
     7. There is one final addition to this step in her character arc. We see Mae return to the Eagle Clan’s original home after they survive the flood and are in the process of regrouping. Here she confronts Noa before she presumably leaves to join up with whatever clan she is really affiliated with. Here she holds a gun behind her back throughout the entire conversation – something only revealed AFTER the conversation is almost finished, becoming a microcosmic mirror of Mae’s entire reveal throughout the film. What her intentions are with the gun – protection or if she is considering murdering Noa – are unclear (though it is worth noting that originally it was intended that she would kill Noa).
        • Here Noa’s relationship to Mae is unchanged, however the audience realizes that her fear and hatred of the apes is perhaps deeper than even we thought.

6. The “Big Twist”: Mae Has Been Working For an Organized Resistance Movement of Intelligent Humans to Take Back The Planet Permanently
   1. At the end of the film we see Mae riding a horse off into the plains, presumably leaving the coast and heading across the plains. We eventually learn that she is headed towards the Very Large Array in New Mexico.
   2. Here it is revealed that Mae has been working for an organized human resistance movement that has taken back the satellites and is operating in the array’s bunker, in the safety of a quarantined facility, to try and enable communications with other human factions across the globe. They are more organized and intelligent than we ever could have imagined.
   3. Ellie is presumably working with them, a human with natural immunity to the virus that destroyed human’s ability to speak, and is an operative who is sent into the field to collect items that will assist this faction.
      • Noa or the apes are not privy to this information. It is a reveal that is only given to the audience watching as it reveals just how much Mae has been hiding throughout the film and truly recharacterizes her journey entirely.

Ultimately Mae’s journey is a twist that highlights the complex relationship in the this current PLANET OF THE APES timeline. Can Apes and humans ever coexist? Should they coexist? What would it mean to have two intelligent but different species work together? Are humans ultimately toxic? Is the Eagle Clan representative of all apes or just a subset that may or may not work with humans? These are the kinds of questions that were originally posed way back in 1968 and frankly it is nice to see them return in 2024 via the relationship between Mae and Noa.

One more thing. I want to discuss Freya Allan and her amazing performance as Mae. Her performance heightens Josh Friedman’s screenplay and Wes Ball’s direction. Because the really interesting thing about Mae’s character arc is that she has already presumably done all of the character “growth” prior to the film beginning. It is only when we realize her true intentions that we see who she really is and “becomes” over the course of the film. She is essentially already a fully-formed character but her “growth” occurs through reveals. Part of the reason this works is because Freya Allen modulates such an incredible performance throughout the film.

Allan acts in a way that is both believable but on a second watch it is also clear that Mae is “acting”. When she cries upon seeing the tribe of echoes in rags, it is not because it reminds her of her own tribe or people (what we initially thought) but rather because she is sad at the state of her own human race. When she derisively tells William H. Macy’s “Trevathan” character said “I’m not the human helping the apes”, we are led to believe that she is saying something that is an emotional reaction from her family or clan’s attack. Instead, this is a signal to the fact that she is fighting a war alongside her organized human resistance faction. Allan’s performance really heightens these words and moments – imbuing each of them with dual or more meanings.

I also want to say that I, personally, do not believe that Mae is the film’s ultimate villain. While I understand the argument and this has been a “hot take” by many redditors and bloggers, I do not agree with it. Is she an antagonist to Noa’s objectives? Yes – but she also helps him at times. And by their final scene together, where Noa offers Mae the Caesar necklace, she is clearly on the fence as a character as to whether or not she will honestly trust apes for the first time – with nothing to “gain” for her objectives from that relationship – beyond peace, but will she value that at the expense of the human race?

Mae is also objective-focused, first and foremost, even at the expense of moral values. And while she will always choose humans over apes, I would also say that she is not cruel. She reminds me of a competing faction on THE WALKING DEAD (or any other post-apocalyptic TV series) that fights but ultimately joins the main group – and not a more violence-focused villain that tries to permanently control them (like The Governor or Negan in THE WALKING DEAD). But she acts this way, with a focus on objectives over morals, with understandable reason: humans have been getting abused by apes for centuries now – as have those around her.

Mae never tries to actively hurt Noa or Rocca – or use violence to get something she wants from him or the Eagle Clan, which says a lot considering what she has likely been through. While she does destroy the vault at the end – it is largely for “the greater good” (albeit the greater good for humans) – and it is arguable that she knows for a certainty that the Eagle Clan or the apes will die – in fact most do not. While she definitely practices deception, lies, and kills – I would argue that it is all in service of a greater objective and it is never outwardly cruel.