Ball, who is best known for “The Maze Runner,” turned in a draft to 20th Century Studios (the new version of Fox post-Disney merger) and they flipped for it. Ball has gone on record as saying that he used much of lockdown to make the script as bulletproof as he could make it, and apparently that worked because 20th Century immediately began their search for their new Andy Serkis and set their sights on rolling film by the end of the year.

Matt Reeves brought the previous trilogy in for an epic landing with 2017’s “War for the Planet of the Apes” which ended up locking in that trilogy as one of the most surprising and effective sci-fi/fantasy series in recent time. Those “Apes” movies are way better than they had any right to be, and a huge reason for their success is in their performance capture actors. That’s crucial if the studio wants to continue down this road, and now they can’t depend on Andy Serkis, who is the Marlon Brando of performance capture.

Teague isn’t a worldwide name yet, but he’s a fantastic actor and always gives 110% to every performance. This is a very promising move that bodes well for another quality installment.