Godzilla x Kong had a back-up plan in case they couldn't get *that* kaiju back
Apr. 2, 2024The New Empire almost featured a different kaiju
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Godzilla x Kong: The New Empiresees the two titular kaiju go up against the Skar King, a dangerous villain with his sights set on the human world. But, there are some other monsters in the mix – and a back-up plan if one in particular couldn’t return. Beware, the following will containmajor spoilersfor the movie, so turn away now if you’re not up to date!
Towards the end of the film, Mothra is awoken – after apparently dying inGodzilla: King of the Monsters– and she helps Godzilla and Kong make friends (or, frenemies) and unite to take down the Skar King. But, if Mothra wasn’t available for use, director Adam Wingard had another idea.
“There was briefly another character called Phosphera that we had in place of Mothra. But Mothra was always what the character was written around,” Wingard revealed toTheWrap. “And there’s this false narrative online that this other character tested badly, and then we were like, ‘Let’s get Mothra.’ The plan was always Mothra. But we weren’t sure if we were going to be able to get Mothra. And once we tested the movie, we had the previous version of that, and by then, things had cleared up and we were able to do Mothra.”
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is in theaters now. For much more on the movie, check out our deep dives on:
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I’m a Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering all things film and TV for the site’s Total Film and SFX sections. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English.
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