Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen – the two leads in 2014’s Godzilla – didn’t return for Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Though it was initially believed that Bryan Cranston’s Joe Brody would be the main protagonist, the two principle human characters turned out to be his son, Ford (Taylor-Johnson), and Ford’s wife, Elle (Olsen). Following the senior Brody’s death, the movie followed Ford as he helped Monarch deal with the M.U.T.Os on his way to reuniting with his family. Meanwhile, Elle struggled to make a rendezvous with Ford while also having to survive the arrival of the giant monsters.
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After the two characters received a happy ending in Godzilla, neither were revisited in the MonsterVerse. However, Godzilla: King of the Monsters did bring back three cast members from the 2014 film, including Ken Watanabe, Sally Hawkins, and David Strathairn, who reprised their roles as Dr. Serizawa, Vivienne, and Admiral Stenz, respectively. The movie also replaced the Brody family with the dysfunctional Russells, which consisted of Mark (Kyle Chandler), Emma (Vera Farmiga), and Madison (Millie Bobby Brown). The story centered on Mark who had to work alongside Monarch against his wife, who was using a device he invented to wake up Ghidorah and all the other Titans.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters director Mike Dougherty has provided an explanation on why Ford and Elle Brody weren’t in the sequel. He decided that with the new installment, that they should “shift it to the eggheads” [via SlashFilm]. Apparently, it was Dougherty’s opinion that the more interesting characters in Godzilla were Ken Watanabe’s Dr. Serizawa and the Monarch scientists. Dougherty felt it was more “complicated and nuanced” to make the scientists the heroes, rather than the soldiers, the latter of which being far more common in films on the scale of King of the Monsters.
Dougherty has also noted that Taylor-Johnson and Olsen’s characters are likely “off the grid” and far away from monsters at this point. Regardless of where they are now, it certainly would have been difficult to craft a story where either of them was relevant again. The only way that would work would be if Ford was stationed at Monarch as a soldier, but that would go counter to his character’s story. Ford never had an interest in the monsters, so it’s hard to imagine him wanting to get involved with the Titans. Without Ford at Monarch, there would be no other reason for them to be around in King of the Monsters. It would have been an odd coincidence if once again they got caught in a Titan’s rampage.
Instead, King of the Monsters moved on to new characters with new problems, and it seemed to work out well for the story. With the Russells, the sequel delivered an interesting storyline where certain humans came to believe that in unleashing the Titans, they could save civilization from itself. Providing new stories with mostly new casts seems to be how the MonsterVerse operates and so far, that hasn’t been a problem, especially since the real stars should always be the monsters themselves.
