After Planet of the Apes became a major hit in 1968, 20th Century-Fox urgently wanted Charlton Heston back for a sequel. Heston, however, had little interest in reprising astronaut George Taylor, and negotiations with his agents became a serious obstacle. Studio president Richard D. Zanuck considered Heston essential to the franchise and eventually secured his participation under unusually restrictive conditions: Heston would appear only briefly, his character would be killed, and his salary would be donated to charity. The compromise reshaped the entire screenplay. Rather than making Taylor the protagonist again, Paul Dehn and Mort Abrahams introduced James Franciscus as Brent, a second astronaut who spends most of the film searching for the missing Taylor. Heston's material was filmed in only eight days, with Taylor disappearing near the beginning and returning for the apocalyptic finale. Zanuck also supported adding the Alpha-Omega doomsday bomb, an idea associated with Heston, so the reluctant star's exit became the literal destruction of Earth and what appeared to be the end of the series. Fox's effort to preserve the star's commercial value while accommodating his refusal produced one of the bleakest endings in mainstream science fiction: Taylor dies after activating a cobalt-cased weapon, and the planet is annihilated.
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AI concept artworkArchive Record · 1970s
Charlton Heston Agreed to Return to Beneath the Planet of the Apes Only If Taylor Died
Beneath the Planet of the Apes / Charlton Heston / 1970s
After Planet of the Apes became a major hit in 1968, 20th Century-Fox urgently wanted Charlton Heston back for a sequel. Heston, however, had little interest in reprising astronaut George Taylor, and negotiations with his agents became a serious obstacle. Studio president Richard D. Zanuck considered Heston essential to the franchise and eventually secured his participation under unusually restrictive conditions: Heston would appear only briefly, his character would be killed, and his salary would be donated to charity. The compromise reshaped the entire screenplay. Rather than making Taylor the protagonist again, Paul Dehn and Mort Abrahams introduced James Franciscus as Brent, a second astronaut who spends most of the film searching for the missing Taylor. Heston's material was filmed in only eight days, with Taylor disappearing near the beginning and returning for the apocalyptic finale. Zanuck also supported adding the Alpha-Omega doomsday bomb, an idea associated with Heston, so the reluctant star's exit became the literal destruction of Earth and what appeared to be the end of the series. Fox's effort to preserve the star's commercial value while accommodating his refusal produced one of the bleakest endings in mainstream science fiction: Taylor dies after activating a cobalt-cased weapon, and the planet is annihilated.
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