War For The Planet Of The Apes: 10 Things That Must Happen

10. The Apes Abandon Sign Language

Easily the most compelling aspect of this series has been the evolution of Caesar (and later the rest of the apes) from head-scratching simian to master of his domain. Each chapter has seen them make notable strides in terms of intelligence and in particular communication skills. In Rise, we see Caesar start off as a garden-variety (albeit enhanced) ape who learns sign language, taking that first step into a realm occupied only by humans. The big moment comes when he later speaks his first word ("no.") Then in Dawn, the rest of the apes have followed suit, using a mix of sign and speech. Even though this series is clearly not intended to be a direct prequel to the originals, it stands to reason that all this verbal progress is actually building towards the walking, talking apes in that classic mold. So the only place to go from here is to have the apes talking full-time, otherwise the development is wasted. We're not talking Dr. Zaius here, just some relatively sharper vocal skills, and naturally leaving sign language behind.