Have you seen Godzilla: King of the Monsters yet? OK, then continue reading. If you have not, stop right now.
During a visit to Toho Studios in Japan last month, io9 asked director Michael Dougherty and star Ken Watanabe about the death of Dr. Ishiro Serizawa in King of the Monsters, namely if Watanabe was going to appear in future films.
The scene is the most moving part of the action film, and Watanabe was terrific as Serizawa. The movies won’t quite feel the same if he’s truly gone. Dougherty chuckled and said, “No one’s really gone.”
Consider our eyebrows raised.
“Akihiko Hirata, the first Dr. Serizawa, he appeared many times in the Godzilla movies,” Watanabe said, adding that “hopefully” he will return.
“Yeah, Dr. Serizawa’s evil twin,” Dougherty joked. “That’s where you get to wear the eye patch.”
I asked Watanabe if he was sad when he read the script and saw that his Serizawa dies in the movie. He replied that when he read it, he loved how the story centres around a scientist and how philosophical the movie gets regarding the relationship between humans, civilisation, and science.
Even though Dr. Daisuke Serizawa died in the 1954 Godzilla film, Hirata remained closely associated with Godzilla throughout his life, appearing in King Kong vs. Godzilla as “Doctor,” Son of Godzilla as “Fujisaki,” Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla as “Prof. Hideto Miyajima,” and Terror of Mechagodzilla as “Dr. Shinji Mafune.”
“I like the idea where he comes back as 121.92m tall radioactive Serizawa,” Dougherty joked. “Like, Serizilla.”
“That would be great,” I said. Well, it would.