This article contains major spoilers from Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.

Summary

  • Mae's tragic and cut backstory from Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes reveals her motivation to complete the mission at any cost, despite betrayals.
  • Concealing Mae's past was crucial for the plot twist, showing her as a loner working for a hidden human group.
  • Potential sequels may explore Mae's past with the human community further, adding depth to her character.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes star Freya Allan reveals new details about Mae's backstory that were cut from the film. The human Mae is pursued by Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand) and his followers from the beginning of the story, but her true motivations remain a secret for much of the runtime. Even less is known about her backstory, especially since much of the information she shares with Noa (Owen Teague) is only partially true, as she remains wary of trusting an ape, no matter how honorable and well-intentioned he seems.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Allan discusses script changes made to Mae's Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes' story, along with her own ideas of what happened to Mae before she first crossed paths with Noa. This backstory clarifies how much of what she told Noa is true, along with much of the strategy and emotion behind many of her pivotal decisions throughout the story. Check out Allan's comments below:

Well, originally, she went with a camp, so she was backed. She was going with people, and this [team-up with the apes] was not the plan. Her camp was attacked, and all those people died. So she’s the only one left, and she’s fully out in the wilderness with nothing and no one. So she has to resort to making Noa her teammate because she’s got no one else. That was not the plan, though, so a lot of it is gradually figuring what to do next.

Number one, she refuses to give up on humanity because her camp died, and within that camp there were people she really cared about. So Proximus’ apes killed her camp, similarly to Noa’s, which is what’s so bizarre about it. I also created a backstory that her parents had also gone off and tried to do the same mission, but they never came back and presumably died. She doesn’t know. So she’s basically doing this for the people that she loves, and that happens to involve the whole of humanity as well. So all she’s left with is this mission, and because so many people that she loves have died, that’s what I largely stemmed it off.

Concealing Mae's Backstory Was Crucial To Pulling Off Kingdom's Biggest Twist

Mae walking along the beach as the apes' prisoner in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes' biggest twist is the revelation of a sophisticated, well-equipped group of humans in hiding and working to reestablish communication with other humans, and that Mae was on a mission for them the entire time. This plot twist wouldn't have worked if too much of Mae's backstory had been revealed. Until joining up with Noa and Raka (Peter Macon), Mae is presented as a loner without a community and without resources. These perceptions don't seem to change even when she begins speaking, with Noa and Raka seemingly being the only community she now has.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes cast guide
Related
Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes Cast & Character Guide

Owen Teague leads the Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes cast as Cornelius. But who else is starring alongside him and what characters do they play?

While the humans on Mae's mission were killed by Proximus' minions, they were likely able to put up more of a fight than the more animalistic humans living in the wild. Showing this massacre would've teased too much of the community and resources that Mae had, stripping away much of the mystery and intrigue that made her character compelling, and potentially spoiling Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes' ending. This also would've been the case if Allan's idea of Mae's parents failing to complete the mission had been shown.

Potential sequels may show more of Mae's past with this human community, clarifying if she has always been with them, if she joined their ranks at a later point, and how she ended up as part of the team searching for the decryption key. Her backstory adds new meaning to her determination to complete the mission at any cost, along with her struggle to trust Noa even after he helped her to secure the decryption key. Mae's nuanced character is arguably the most compelling element of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and the sequels it sets up.

Source: THR