Godzilla x Kong Director Adam Wingard Not Returning for Its Sequel – IGN

It looks like Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire director Adam Wingard is moving on from the MonsterVerse, at least for the moment.

THR reports today that Wingard will not be returning for Godzilla x Kong’s sequel, which we officially learned about just earlier this month as Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings screenwriter Dave Callaham signed on to write the script. Wingard directed both Godzilla x Kong and its predecessor, 2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong.

Per THR, the split between the director and the studio was amicable, and comes down to scheduling issues. According to the report, Wingard wanted to tackle Onslaught, an original action-thriller that was recently picked up by A24, before doing another MonsterVerse movie, which didn’t line up with Legendary’s plans to move more swiftly onto the next installment. It had been reported previously that Legendary was eager to keep its relationship with Wingard, and the door remains open for future installments.

IGN understands that the THR report is accurate. When reached by IGN, Legendary had no comment.

It’s little surprise to hear that Legendary wants to keep the MonsterVerse movies coming, especially in light of Godzilla x Kong’s box office success. Despite mixed reviews, it’s already crossed $560 million at the global box office on a relatively lean reported budget of $135 million, putting it on track to be the highest-grossing MonsterVerse movie yet.

And it also comes at a time where Godzilla himself is having a bit of a moment. Though it’s not part of Legendary’s MonsterVerse, Godzilla Minus One was a massive hit last year, scoring a VFX Oscar – the first Academy Award win for any Godzilla movie.

IGN gave Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire a 6/10 earlier this year, with D. Hood writing in our review, “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire serves up a berserk dreamscape with plenty of payoff to please the MonsterVerse faithful. Shame about the human stuff, though.”

Thumbnail credit: Stewart Cook/Getty Images for Warner Bros.

Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she’s not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.