Mae & Noa's Final Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes Scene Explained By Director

Warning! Major spoilers ahead for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.

Summary Director Wes Ball reveals that the final scene between Noa and Mae in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes has a big impact on Mae and how she sees ape-kind.

Noa's desire for peace even after Mae's betrayal shows Mae how complex and intelligent apes can be, and perhaps plants the seed that humans and apes could live side-by-side.

Noa and Mae could be crucial characters in ensuring peace between humans and apes in future sequels.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes director Wes Ball breaks down Noa and Mae's final scene in his new movie. After the Caesar-focused reboot trilogy, Owen Teague's Noa becomes the lead character in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, which takes place several hundred years after Caesar's death. The film also introduces Freya Allan's Mae, who is revealed to be one of the few remaining humans. After putting Noa and his ape companions in great danger in order to accomplish her mission, Mae returns to meet with Noa, and the two essentially make a tentative peace.

In a recent interview with Screen Rant, Ball explains that final Noa and Mae scene during the Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes ending. According to the director, Noa's forgiveness and intelligence is eye-opening for Mae, and the interaction will impact events moving forward. Check out Ball's full comment below:

“That is the key thing, right? If you look at it again, there's these subtle performance things. Obviously she says, I'm sorry, before she does it. I think you can understand why she did it, what she fears Proximus getting his hands on. But the truth is, Noa is more dangerous because of the knowledge that he's gained. Knowledge is the most powerful thing, I think, for an ape like Noa, who's obviously shown, he's like a sponge, can understand things very quickly. “So we don't see him, obviously, step into this leadership role in this movie. It's just the beginning of a character. He started out as an innocent, and by the end of the movie, he understands humans, both good and bad. That's going to be interesting to kind of navigate in future stories. Trust has been hurt, but at the same time, he's the one who offers peace, hope for peace. And she accepts and carries that into her world, literally. “I think it surprises her. She showed up not knowing what was going to happen and she walked away, I think, having her mind blown a little bit. How is she going to communicate what she learned about apes to the people in her world? That's going to be interesting. And will they listen? “We've now shown that there's others out there, and you're going to invite others into this world. What is going to happen? You can rest assured it's going to be dramatic, whatever it is. So yeah, we think there's a lot to explore and a lot to do. And yeah, those two will be at the center of it all.”

Related Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes Finally Restores A Missing Part Of The Original Movies Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes provides a key indicator of just how close the current ape society is to the one shown in Planet of the Apes.

Noa & Mae Could Be Crucial To Future Planet Of The Apes Movies

How Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes Teases A Bigger Story

Close

Although Mae was essentially manipulating and deceiving Noa throughout the movie, she evidently learns something about ape-kind during her final interaction with him. Even though she blows up the sea wall and floods the bunker while Noa and other apes are inside, he seeks peace instead of retribution. In their final conversation, she affirms her commitment to rebuilding humanity, but she also sees the complex emotions these creatures possess and their capacity for reason.

Your browser does not support the video tag.

The fact that Mae carries a gun during this final encounter is proof that she went in willing to kill Noa if necessary, and it speaks to how seriously she is pursuing a brighter future for her kind. While she may have originally seen the fall of ape-kind as a crucial part of humanity's rise, Noa has seemingly planted the idea in her head that there may be room for humans and apes to live side-by-side, and that they're not so different. As Ball teases, however, it may be difficult for Mae to communicate this to her allies.

Ball's latest sequel takes place quite some time before the events of the 1968 original movie in the larger Planet of the Apes timeline.

The positive Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes reviews and strong projected box office would suggest that there will indeed be additional sequels. With humanity once again on the rise, it seems like conflict between the two species is inevitable, but Mae and Noa could very well end up being the key to achieving peace. It remains to be seen how Noa and Mae's stories will continue to unfold, but Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes evidently tees the characters up for important roles moving forward.