‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ Director Dreams Up a Monster Fans Have Never Seen Before

Few franchises have survived as long as the King of the Monsters, and fewer still have kept reinventing themselves along the way. Every new era of Toho’s flagship series arrives with the same question: what can this creature face next? That question has hung over the property since the studio first put a man in a rubber suit and sent him stomping through Tokyo.

Right now, the conversation is louder than usual. ‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ opened in U.S. cinemas on Nov. 3, and the film debuted to a near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes score. For fans, it has been a heady few weeks of monster talk.

Against that backdrop, director Takashi Yamazaki is already thinking about what comes after. According to a post from DiscussingFilm, Yamazaki says he would like to create an original kaiju if he ever makes another ‘Godzilla’ movie. “If it were up to me, I think it would be very interesting to perhaps even create an original kaiju to explore in another film,” he said.

The idea fits where the franchise currently stands. ‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ introduces Yamazaki’s version of King Ghidorah, the three-headed dragon-like beast from space, a Shōwa-era icon. Rather than raiding the classic roster a second time, he seems drawn to building something from scratch.

Yamazaki has been careful not to promise anything, though. Speaking with Inverse, he indicated he would like to return to Godzilla eventually, and maybe even do an original kaiju, but that it is not his focus right now. His attention is elsewhere, at least for the moment.

That focus is a giant-robot project called ‘Grandgear.’ The film marks a move into mecha territory after he earned a Best Visual Effects Oscar for ‘Godzilla Minus One.’ He is also keeping busy in Hollywood, where 20th Century Studios has landed an original epic from him called ‘Nue,’ according to Deadline’s reporting as relayed by Empire.

It is worth remembering how Yamazaki talks about monster movies in general. He has said he did not want ‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ to become a giant pro wrestling match between two kaiju, and that a strong relationship between humans and the monsters still matters. An original creature would presumably need to carry that same emotional weight, rather than just serving as a punching bag for the big guy.

His past comments back that up. Speaking to Empire in early 2024, Yamazaki said he wanted to explore a more serious take on kaiju-versus-kaiju combat paired with human drama. A brand-new monster would give him a blank canvas to do exactly that, without the baggage that comes with decades of established lore.

Yamazaki has also shown a clear fondness for the series’ deeper cuts. At New York Comic Con, he was asked which Godzilla movie he would remake and answered ‘Godzilla vs. Hedorah.’ That answer suggests a filmmaker who enjoys the stranger corners of kaiju history, and who might be comfortable inventing a new beast of his own.

As for whether another film is actually coming, the picture is still hazy. GamesRadar has reported that Yamazaki would probably say yes if Toho offered him a third film. Nothing has been announced, and no studio has confirmed a project built around an original monster.

For now, this is a wish rather than a plan. Still, it is a tantalizing one, especially from a director who has already been called a darling of Japan’s movie industry and who has proven he understands what makes these films land. If Toho ever gives him the green light, fans may finally get a monster that belongs entirely to the Yamazaki era of ‘Godzilla.’