War for the Planet of the Apes hits cinemas next year, but it looks plans are already in place for another Planet of the Apes film.

It was assumed that War for the Planet of the Apes would round out the trilogy, but director Matt Reeves has other ideas. “We know that that’s the ending, that it becomes Planet of the Apes, the cool thing about what was started in Rise [of the Planet of the Apes] is, that it’s no longer about what happens,” he told /Film. “It’s about how it happens. And stories about how are always about character and psychology. So in our minds, the idea that’s the end of the story gives us the chance to tell an epic saga that leads from where Caesar began in Rise to that world. It’s not about getting there and then redoing that story. We think it’s like a great Russian novel or something, and it’s all about following Caesar on that journey and the other apes as it builds along that way.”

He adds: “And you know the ending, but what you do know is also that the world is not that world. So how did it change? Caesar’s apes are not like the apes in the Planet of the Apes, right? They’re very brutal to the humans. That’s not what’s going on, so how did that happen? And you know that Cesar had such integrity, and that he has this sort of sense of right and wrong, of his morality, yet you watch that be challenged. He ends up having to kill one of his own. All of those things give us a chance to explore human nature and do it in a way that is really fun. ‘Cause these are all, frankly, totally new stories. We’re not doing any stories that were done.”

SEE ALSO: Description of the War for the Planet of the Apes footage

Caesar and his apes are forced into a deadly conflict with an army of humans led by a ruthless Colonel. After the apes suffer unimaginable losses, Caesar wrestles with his darker instincts and begins his own mythic quest to avenge his kind. As the journey finally brings them face to face, Caesar and the Colonel are pitted against each other in an epic battle that will determine the fate of both their species and the future of the planet.

War of the Planet of the Apes is directed by Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) and sees Andy Serkis return as Caesar and Judy Greer as Cornelia alongside Woody Harrleson (Zombieland), Steve Zahn (The Ridiculous 6) and Gabriel Chavarria (Low Riders).