Monarch: Legacy of Monsters takes place in two different timelines, as it traces the up-and-coming years of Monarch and where the organization is in 2015, a year after Godzilla’s appearance in San Francisco.
Primarily, the events of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters happen in 2015 and the 1950s. However, the events of MonsterVerse are spread across years, and the show serves as a sequel to some films and a prequel to others.
The 2015 Timeline
In 2015’s timeline, it’s been a year since G-Day, the day Godzilla appeared in San Francisco, the events that took place in 2014’s Godzilla.
The show describes the aftermath of those events, especially how G-Day has changed the world forever. The world now lives in fear of when Godzilla will appear again and is taking measures to protect itself.
In this timeline, Cate Randa arrives in Tokyo, Japan, to settle her father’s affairs, only to learn that he has another family here.
Cate and her half-brother, Kentaro, work together after discovering a mysterious bag with Monarch’s logo on it, locked inside their father’s safe, and learning that Monarch is now after them and those files.
The 2015 timeline serves as a sequel to 2014’s Godzilla and 2017’s Kong: Skull Island and a prequel to movies following the latter.
The 1950’s timeline
The 1950s explore the adventures of one of Monarch’s core teams, which includes Cate and Kentaro’s grandparents, William ‘Billy’ Randa, a US Navy vet who is also a cryptozoologist, and Keiko Miura, a Japanese scientist, and Military Officer Lieutenant Leland Lafayette Shaw III, also known as Lee.
The events of the 1950s show how this trio turned Monarch into a full-fledged organization to study Godzilla and other such creatures that they call MUTO, Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms, or simply Titans.
Billy later leads an expedition to Skull Island in 1973. The events of this expedition take place in Kong: Skull Island. The first scene of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters shows how, during his time on Skull Island, Billy dropped a bag of his into the ocean while running away from a titan.
This same bag with Monarch’s logo on it is discovered by Cate and Kentaro in the future in their father’s safe, and this is how these two timelines connect.
Another factor connecting these two timelines is the character of Lee, who is present in both timelines. In 2015, Cate and Kentaro approach Lee for help when they are on the run from Monarch. Overall, this 1950s timeline is a prequel to all the movies in MonsterVerse.
Also Read: Keiko Miura: Monarch: Legacy of Monsters character explained