When Should Godzilla Minus Zero Be Set?

A sequel to Godzilla Minus One is coming, and the internet could not be more excited. It’s not just that we’re getting a sequel to what might very well be the best movie about the King of the Monsters since the 1954 original. It’s also that the mysterious title and surrealistic imagery in the teaser announcing Godzilla Minus Zero has people wondering if another classic monster like Mothra is on the way.

But the biggest question should really be around the film’s setting. Although it was the 37th Godzilla movie, Minus One took place in 1945 and 1947, before the first film. The setting allowed writer and director Takashi Yamazaki to explore Japan’s misdeeds at the time, adding another layer of moral complexity to film series about the ravages of America’s attack on the country.

So as we wait for more information about Godzilla Minus Zero to surface, let’s look at some of the potential settings for the next chapter in monster history.

1960s

Chronologically, it would make sense for Godzilla Minus Zero to just hop a decade and a half later than its predecessor. Time would have passed, but not so much that we couldn’t check in on would-be kamakaze pilot Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) and his girlfriend Noriko (Minami Hamabe). But the 1960s would also give Yamazaki plenty of thematic material to work with.

The 1960s were, of course, the height of the Cold War, when the United States and the USSR threatened one another with nuclear annihilation, while the rest of the world either took a side or stood by and prayed neither would pull a trigger. While not one of the prime belligerents, Japan’s increased connection to the U.S. made them a sometimes unwilling player, especially as America inserted itself into Korea and Vietnam, two countries with whom Japan has its own imperial history.

Between the nuclear anxieties at work during the ’60s and Japan being forced to confront both its past and its new place on the world stage, Yamazaki would certainly find the Cold War a fruitful setting for his next monster movie.

1980s

Given the wave of nostalgia that continues to sweep across the country, the 1980s seem like the ideal setting for Godzilla Minus Zero. Furthermore, the 1980s were an interesting time for the franchise, as the release of The Return of Godzilla in 1984, the first new movie featuring the monster in nine years, played as a direct sequel to the first film and launched the Heisei Era of Godzilla movies. If Yamazaki wanted to continue the meta-commentary found in Godzilla Minus One, then setting Godzilla Minus Zero in 1984 or ’85 would make perfect sense.

Moreover, the period presented an interesting turn in the relations between Japan and the United States. During the 1980s, Japan saw a surge in technological advancements, threatening in the U.S.’s place in the global economy. In other words, Japan was doing Western-style economics better than the West, using the system foisted upon them to their own ends. Those types of tensions would be the perfect place for Yamazaki to insert Godzilla, the ultimate monster born of American intervention in the East.

2020s

Before the release of Godzilla Minus One, most fans believed 2016’s Shin Godzilla to be the best post-1954 entry in the franchise. That movie used Godzilla as a metaphor for the government’s response to recent disasters such as the 2011 tsunami and Fukushima nuclear accident, getting just as much horror for bureaucratic incompetence as it does from the titular beast. Given how well directors Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi reframed the central threat for Shin Godzilla, one might think that Godzilla Minus Zero should stay away from the present.

But since Shin Godzilla‘s release, every modern day Godzilla film has been part of Legendary Pictures‘ MonsterVerse, which have their charms, but aren’t interested in commentary like the Toho films. And since Toho’s deal with Legendary meant they couldn’t make Godzilla movies for a while, the time is right for the company to bring Godzilla into the 2020s.

Obviously, Yamazaki won’t want to travel the same ground that Anno and Higuchi already trod. But with the global pandemic still front of mind, and Japan facing a massive population crisis—and with it, renewed fears about loss of traditional culture—there are sadly more than enough new anxieties for Godzilla Minus Zero to translate into kaiju action.