‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’ Star Kaylee Hottle Views The Humans As Still Vital To The MonsterVerse

JB Augustine |

Apr 21, 2024

King Kong and Jia — Jia (Kaylee Hottle) takes Kong home in Godzilla vs. Kong, HBO Max

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire opened a pathway to fulfilling a desire for more monster action and less of the human arcs that have driven kaiju movies in the past. However, the MonsterVerse still has a way to go.

SUKO in Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures’ action adventure “GODZILLA x KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. © 2024 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

New Empire has enough for the people to get away with doing – as paper-thin as critics and audiences feel their storylines are. Jia, played by Kaylee Hottle, is a driving force in that respect, and like Kong, her journey uncovers more secrets of the Hollow Earth.

Hottle is young but her viewpoint is old-school as she sees the importance of the perspective of human characters. “The monsters have their own world, and we as humans are trying to understand that world; we’re trying to find that path that connects us,” she said when interviewed by Comicbook.com.

Dr. Ilene Andrews (Dr. Ilene Andrews) and Jia (Kaylee Hottle) convince Kong to enter the Hollow Earth in Godzill vs. Kong (2021), Warner Bros. Pictures — Dr. Ilene Andrews (Dr. Ilene Andrews) and Jia (Kaylee Hottle) convince Kong to enter the Hollow Earth in Godzilla vs. Kong (2021), Warner Bros. Pictures

Moreover, she pushed the significance of her character. “So there’s Jia, she’s also a human so she’s able to connect to those people in the human world with her (Hollow Earth) tribe as well,” Hottle added.

Legendary Pictures, and producers of Kong and Godzilla films in general (that being Toho primarily), will probably always see value in the humans guiding the story the way they did in King Kong, the first Gojira, Godzilla Minus One, and beyond. Therefore, Hottle’s job is secure for now.

Godzilla Minus a bigger boat — The mining boat fights Godzilla at sea in Godzilla Minus One (2023), Toho Co. Ltd.

That said, the stated goal of those working on these pictures today who also grew up indulging in the kaiju genre is to eliminate the human element of it as much as possible one day. Godzilla vs. Kong co-writer Max Borenstein envisioned that future as doable in 2021.

“I do think it could be done,” he said to SlashFilm at the time. “I was thinking about the same thing. I think it would be amazing, actually.” Comparing the scope of such an endeavor to Mad Max: Fury Road, he added, “I think it’s totally possible to do that with the absolute minimum amount of human characters and really characterize the creatures.”