Planet of the Apes Cast and Crew: Every Actor and Director by Film

The Planet of the Apes cast changes with each of the three eras. Each of the ten films lists its top billed actors, and each title links to its own page for the full credits.

The original run, from Planet of the Apes (1968), directed by Franklin J. Schaffner, to Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973), is built around Roddy McDowall and Kim Hunter. Charlton Heston plays the astronaut George Taylor in the first film, McDowall plays the chimpanzee Cornelius, Hunter plays Zira and Maurice Evans plays Dr. Zaius, with Linda Harrison as the mute human woman Nova. Beneath puts James Franciscus at the front as the astronaut Brent, while Escape, Conquest and Battle all open their billing with McDowall, who moves from Cornelius to his son Caesar.

Planet of the Apes (2001), directed by Tim Burton, is a standalone remake with an entirely new ensemble. Mark Wahlberg plays Captain Leo Davidson, Tim Roth plays the chimpanzee General Thade, Helena Bonham Carter plays the sympathetic chimpanzee Ari and Michael Clarke Duncan plays Attar. Paul Giamatti, Estella Warren, David Warner and Kris Kristofferson fill out the supporting roles.

The modern films begin with Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), directed by Rupert Wyatt, where James Franco plays the scientist Will Rodman, with Freida Pinto, John Lithgow, Brian Cox and Tom Felton alongside. Dawn adds Jason Clarke, Keri Russell and Gary Oldman as Dreyfus, and Toby Kebbell takes over Koba. War brings in Woody Harrelson as the Colonel and Steve Zahn as Bad Ape, with Amiah Miller as Nova. Kingdom, set many generations after Caesar, moves to a new cast: Owen Teague as Noa, Freya Allan as Nova / Mae, Kevin Durand as Proximus Caesar, Peter Macon as Raka and William H. Macy as Trevathan.

One naming note for anyone searching for the monkeys: the ape characters are chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans, not monkeys, and in the modern films they are performed through motion capture. Andy Serkis plays Caesar in all three of the first modern films, Karin Konoval and Terry Notary play Maurice and Rocket across the same three, and Weta handled the effects work on Rise. There was no film in 2012, so a search for the 2012 cast almost always means Rise (2011), and the 2017 cast is War for the Planet of the Apes, with Andy Serkis, Woody Harrelson and Karin Konoval.

Eight directors have made the ten films, and only J. Lee Thompson and Matt Reeves directed more than one.

Franklin J. Schaffner directed the 1968 original, and Ted Post followed with Beneath in 1970 and Don Taylor with Escape in 1971. J. Lee Thompson then directed both Conquest (1972) and Battle (1973), which makes him the only director of the original run to make two of the five films. Jerry Goldsmith scored the first film and Escape, Leonard Rosenman scored Beneath and Battle, and Tom Scott scored Conquest.

Tim Burton directed the 2001 remake with a score by Danny Elfman. For the modern run, Rupert Wyatt directed Rise, and Matt Reeves directed Dawn (2014) and War (2017), both scored by Michael Giacchino. Wes Ball directed Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024), with music by John Paesano.

The next film is still at the reporting stage. TheWrap reported on May 6, 2026 that Matt Shakman is set to direct an untitled Planet of the Apes film for 20th Century Studios, with Josh Friedman writing a new original story rather than a direct Kingdom sequel. Shakman, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver are reported as producers. No studio statement, cast, title or release date has been reported, and the latest on its status sits on the next Planet of the Apes movie page.

Roddy McDowall appears in four of the five original films, and Andy Serkis is the performer who carries the modern run by playing Caesar in three films. In my opinion, that makes the saga easier to follow than its reputation suggests, because the same few faces anchor each era.

In the original films, McDowall plays Cornelius in Planet of the Apes (1968) and Escape, and then plays Cornelius's son Caesar in Conquest and Battle. Kim Hunter returns as Zira in the first three films, with Maurice Evans as Dr. Zaius in the first two and Linda Harrison as Nova in the same pair. Charlton Heston plays Taylor in 1968 and again in Beneath, billed fourth there behind James Franciscus. Natalie Trundy also appears in four of the five, in Beneath, Escape, Conquest and Battle, playing Albina, then Dr. Stephanie Branton, then Lisa twice. Severn Darden plays Kolp in Conquest and Battle, and Lou Wagner and Buck Kartalian pop up in the 1968 film and again in Conquest, in different roles.

The main recast of the original run is Cornelius in Beneath, played by David Watson rather than McDowall. According to Wikipedia, read alongside Box Office Mojo and The Numbers, McDowall was unavailable for that film.

In the top billed lists, Planet of the Apes (2001) shares no cast with any other film, which is one more reason it sits outside both continuities as a standalone remake. Tim Roth, Helena Bonham Carter and Mark Wahlberg do not appear in the top billed cast of any other film in the saga.

The modern films reuse their performers more deliberately. Serkis plays Caesar in Rise, Dawn and War, Karin Konoval plays Maurice in all three, and Terry Notary plays Rocket in all three (he also plays Bright Eyes in Rise). Toby Kebbell plays Koba in Dawn and is also credited in War, while Christopher Gordon plays Koba in Rise. Judy Greer plays Cornelia in Dawn and War, though Devyn Dalton plays Cornelia in Rise. Nova is a name that returns across eras, with Linda Harrison in 1968, Amiah Miller in War and Freya Allan as Nova / Mae in Kingdom, and that last one is a character rather than a continuing performance. Kingdom (2024) then resets the ensemble: Owen Teague, Kevin Durand and Peter Macon are new, and none of the earlier ape performers head the billing.

A small echo is worth spotting if you are rewatching in release order. The names Dodge and Landon belong to astronauts in the 1968 film and are carried by Tom Felton and Brian Cox in Rise, which I read as a nod to the original rather than a plot link. For the characters behind these actors, see Planet of the Apes characters, and for how the 1970s films and the reboot differ, see Planet of the Apes original vs reboot.