Monarch: Legacy of Monsters returns for season 2, complete with familiar faces and new cast members alike. The ending of Monarch season 1 teased an exciting future for the show, as well as the wider universe. The MonsterVerse timeline is only expanding, with Monarch filling in the blanks created by the various movies.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters season 2’s reviews prove that it is continuing to do so in a way that truly works. Perhaps the main way it does so is by fixing a longstanding issue with even the best-ranked MonsterVerse movies: the human characters. The movies have struggled to make these compelling, but Monarch has changed that.

The show’s human characters are just as good as the titanic monster battles, which is something monster movies as a whole have struggled with. Another contributing factor in this is the excellent performances of Monarch’s cast, alongside some fun meta roles. With that in mind, here is every cast member, new and familiar, returning for Monarch season 2 and the characters they play.

Kurt Russel & Wyatt Russell as Lee Shaw

Dates of Birth: March 17, 1951 & July 10, 1986

• Active Since: 1962 & 1987

Actors: Kurt Russell and Wyatt Russell play the same role in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, separated by decades. Kurt Russell, born in Springfield, Massachusetts, is known for having hundreds of major Hollywood roles, including The Thing, Big Trouble in Little China, Tango and Cash, and Escape from New York, to name only a tiny handful.

Wyatt Russell, Kurt Russell’s son, was born in Los Angeles, California, with his breakout role being that of Zook Haythe in 22 Jump Street. Russell has gone on to appear in films like Everybody Wants Some!!, Thunderbolts*, and Avengers: Doomsday, the latter two after another breakout role in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Character: As alluded to, Kurt and Wyatt Russell portray Lee Shaw in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. Wyatt Russell portrays Lee as a young soldier working for the titular organization in the 1950s. Kurt Russell portrays the same characters decades later in the 2010s, as he tries to right the wrongs of his past.

Anna Sawai as Cate Randa

Date of Birth: June 11, 1992

Actor: Anna Sawai is a Japanese actor born in Wellington, New Zealand. Sawai moved to Japan at the age of 10, and began acting in local productions, as well as James McTeigue’s Ninja Assassin. Worldwide fame found Sawai after she appeared in AppleTV’s Pachinko, which led to even more exposure with Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. Sawai then played a main role in Shōgun, cementing her mainstream status.

Notable Movies & TV Shows

Character: Sawai plays Cate Randa, a teacher from San Francisco who witnessed Godzilla’s first emergence, shown in 2014’s Godzilla. Cate suffers from PTSD, yet begins a search for her missing father. This uncovers several mysteries linked to her father and the Monarch organization, which will only continue in season 2.

Kiersey Clemons as May Olowe-Hewitt

Date of Birth: December 17, 1993

Actor: Kiersey Clemons is an American actor born in Pensacola, Florida. Clemons’ breakout role came in 2015’s Dope, leading to roles in films like Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, Zack Snyder’s Justice League, and The Flash. Beyond that, Clemons has played parts in shows like New Girl, Angie Tribeca, and, of course, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.

Notable Movies & TV Shows

Character: Clemons plays May Olowe-Hewitt, also known as Corah Mateo, a coder who once worked for Applied Experimental Technologies. After leaving that life behind, Corah became May, a freelance coder and game designer. May got wrapped up in Monarch‘s story after Kentaro, her ex-boyfriend, appeared, asking her to decode files linked to his and Cate’s father.

Ren Watabe as Kentaro Randa

Date of Birth: March 6, 1999

Actor: Ren Watabe is a Japanese actor. Unlike the other cast members in Monarch, the 2023 show was Watabe’s breakout role. In fact, the only other credit to Watabe’s name is a small role in 461 Lunch Boxes, a Japanese-made drama. As such, Monarch is the first major production in Watabe’s resume, kickstarting his Hollywood career.

Notable Movies & TV Shows

Character: Watabe plays Kentaro Randa in Monarch, the half-brother of Sawai’s Cate. Cate and Kentaro did not know each other existed until the former began looking into her father’s disappearance. Given the existence of another family, both Cate and Kentaro decided to work together to uncover their father’s secrets.

Mari Yamamoto as Keiko Miura

Date of Birth: February 4, 1986

Actor: Mari Yamamoto is a Japanese actor and journalist. Miura’s breakout role came alongside Sawai in Pachinko, leading both to be cast in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. Since appearing in these shows, Miura has gone on to star in American projects like Rental Family and Assassin’s Creed: Shadows.

Notable Movies & TV Shows

Character: Yamamoto plays Keiko Miura in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, one of Lee Shaw’s monster investigation team in the 1950s. Keiko is the mother of Hiroshi Randa, thus the grandmother of Cate and Kentaro. In the final episodes of Monarch season 1, it is revealed that Keiko is still alive in Hollow Earth, teasing her involvement in season 2 of the show.

Anders Holm as Bill Randa

Date of Birth: May 29, 1981

Actor: Anders Holm is an American actor born in Evanston, Illinois. Holm is well-known for his career as a comedian, which led to acting with his breakout role in Workaholics, a sitcom he also created. This led to more TV appearances in shows like The Mindy Project, Champions, Inventing Anna, and Monarch.

Notable Movies & TV Shows

Character: Holm plays Bill Randa in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, the same character played by Jon Goodman in Kong: Skull Island. Randa is a cryptozoologist and a leading researcher for Monarch in the 1950s, alongside Keiko and Lee. Bill marries Keiko, becoming Hiroshi’s stepfather and an integral part of both storylines in the show.

Joe Tippett as Tim

Date of Birth: March 1, 1982

Actor: Joe Tippett is an American actor born in Washington, D.C. Tippett appeared in several productions before his breakout roles in the likes of Rise and Mare of Easttown. This led to movie appearances in Spirited and A Complete Unknown, as well as further TV roles such as Monarch and American Primeval.

Notable Movies & TV Shows

Character: Joe Tippett plays Tim in Monarch, an agent of the titular company who is initially sent to track down Cate and Kentaro. Eventually, Tim starts to lose faith in Monarch, joins a rival company linked to May, and sets up his role in Monarch season 2.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Supporting Cast & Characters

Photo courtesy of Apple TV

Takehiro Hira as Hiroshi Randa: Hiroshi Randa is at the heart of Monarch‘s central mystery, after disappearing and leaving his family behind. Randa is played by Takehiro Hira, a prolific Japanese actor whose American credits include Shōgun, Captain America: Brave New World, Gran Turismo, and Rental Family.

Christopher Heyerdahl as General Puckett: Puckett is Shaw’s commanding officer in Monarch, who often serves as somewhat of an antagonist due to his inability to see the titans of the world as anything other than threats. Heyerdahl plays Puckett and is known for roles in Stargate: Atlantis, The Twilight Saga, Supernatural, and Under the Banner of Heaven.

Amber Midthunder as Isabel: Amber Midthunder has been cast in Monarch season 2 as Isabel, a businesswoman likely linked to the titular organization. Midthunder is known for her roles in Prey, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Legion, and Novocaine.

Dominique Tripper as Brenda Holland: Brenda Holland is the former boss of May and the owner of Apex Cybernetics. She appears in the final episodes of Monarch season 1 as an ally of Hiroshi and Kentaro, setting up her larger role in season 2. Dominque Tripper is best known for her role in The Expanse.

Other actors who have joined Monarch: Legacy of Monsters season 2 include Cliff Curtis, Curtiss Cook, and Camilo Jiménez.

Release Date

November 16, 2023

Network

Apple TV

Showrunner

Chris Black, Matt Fraction

Directors

Julian Holmes, Matt Shakman, Mairzee Almas, Andy Goddard, Hiromi Kamata

Writers

Al Letson, Karl Taro Greenfeld, Chris Black, Mariko Tamaki, Amanda Overton, Andrew Colville, Matt Fraction, Milla Bell-Hart

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  Kiersey Clemons

  May Hewitt