Tragic Details About The Cast Of Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters

This article contains mentions of alcohol abuse, racial abuse, and depression.

If you need a recap before "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters" Season 2, it's high time to get to it. The latest chapter in the ever-expanding MonsterVerse timeline is proving to be one of its most interesting installments, rivaling the MonsterVerse movies in its scope, stakes, and impressive visuals.

Such a show deserves a cast that can deliver on multiple fronts — the action, the drama, and the epic moments. From the epic father-son duo Kurt and Wyatt Russell playing the same character from two different timelines to Emmy winners like Anna Sawai, the humans in this titan-sized story all pull their weight and then some. This is all the more impressive when you consider that several of the show's actors have gone through some pretty unfortunate situations over the course of their lives and careers.

While it's true that many of the characters on "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters" have quite tragic arcs, the same also applies to some of the actors playing them. Sure, not every single "Monarch" cast member comes from a place of dramatic and horrifying personal experiences, but a good few performerrs on this adventure drama series nevertheless have surprisingly dark backstories.

Before playing Cate Randa, Anna Sawai had appeared in projects like "Ninja Assassin," "F9," and "Pachinko." Between "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters" Seasons 1 and 2, she further heightened her profile as Toda Mariko in the acclaimed FX historical drama "Shōgun." However, many might not be aware that she also used to be in a J-pop girl group called Faky from 2013 to 2018, and was in the J-pop system for quite a while before that. 

Sawai's time as Faky's leader and main vocalist wasn't always easy. In an interview with W Magazine, she described the difficulties of a J-pop career, and the way it negatively impacted her self esteem. "For those 10 years, I was taught to listen more than say anything," she said. "That made me lose confidence in myself. I'm having to unlearn a lot of the things that I was taught, which is kind of unfortunate, and hard to do when you're in your 30s. Maybe if I hadn't had that experience, I would have had a shortcut to being comfortable with the way I am and unapologetically myself." 

Sawai entered the music industry at 14 by joining a J-pop "boot camp." That doesn't sound pleasant, and combined with her description of the experience, it's not surprising to learn that she does not recommend the industry and wouldn't want her children to pursue it.

Kiersey Clemons has been in projects big and small, from playing Iris West in "The Flash" to appearing in the psychological folk horror film "Antebellum." On "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters," she plays tech genius May Olowe-Hewitt, who becomes entangled in the Randa siblings' quest. However, May eventually turns out to be more than meets the eye.

Outside of her acting work, Clemons has discussed her bipolar diagnosis in a 2021 interview with the StyleLikeU YouTube channel. 

"I was first diagnosed five years ago, but since then I've been diagnosed on medication, got rid of my medication," she said. "You crash eventually, of course, as one does. I fell in to the trap of, 'I can cure this with the power of my mind.'" She went on to describe how she's grown critical of the idea of dealing with mental health using things like yoga or veganism in lieu of proper medication. "All of those things work for me but they're complementing my medication, and seeing my therapist, and having a team of doctors," she said.

Clemons has also been outspoken about serious issues like racism. In an interview with i-d, she revealed that she has received many offers to play stereotypical characters, and that she automatically rejects them, even if nothing else is available. "I'd rather be working at the mall again than go make a racist or sexist movie for money," she said.  

Kurt Russell, who plays the older version of Lee Shaw in the Godzilla show's confusing timeline, is far and away the most famous main actor on "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters." He has been everything from helicopter pilot MacReady in "The Thing" to hangman John Ruth in Quentin Tarantino's "The Hateful Eight" to the living planet Ego in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2." However, if he had his choice, he would have sought his fortune in a completely different profession: Baseball. 

Russell and his dad were massive fans of the sport, and the future actor was actually a good enough Minor League star to have several Major League teams taking notes. At this time, Russell was already acting, but treated the thespian life strictly as a source of income as he was chasing his baseball dreams. Unfortunately, in 1973 he suffered a bad arm injury that ended his athletic career before he could experience it under the brightest lights. 

Russell received his career-switching injury in an appropriately gung-ho way that would fit some of his most hardcore characters, as he tore his rotator cuff during a night out. "I was using my arm more than I should," the actor told Men's Health. "I took a hundred ground balls before every game. And then one night I was out celebrating, had a few too many, and blew out my arm playing air hockey."

Kurt Russell's son, Wyatt Russell, plays the younger version of Lee Shaw. He has been making his mark on movies and TV for a good while, appearing in projects ranging from the WWII horror "Overlord" to the FX police drama "Under the Banner of Heaven." Wyatt Russell's biggest and most prominent role to date is the Marvel Cinematic Universe character John Walker, who debuts as the new Captain America on "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier," later adapts the moniker of U.S. Agent, and goes on to play a crucial role in "Thunderbolts*."

Like his father, Wyatt Russell originally aimed for a career in sports, in his case, ice hockey. And, again like his dad, he was sidelined by an injury in his twenties. 

"When I got injured, it was a disastrous moment. But it turned out to be probably the best thing," Russell told The Hollywood Reporter. "When you're an athlete, you've got the horse blinders on pretty thick. Your exploration of other things in life tends to be limited because you have to have such a focus on what you're doing. I wasn't a good enough player to stray from that focus and still keep my ability." Russell went on to explain that after the injury, he was able to explore other opportunities like acting — which ultimately turned out to be a great move. Like father, like son.

Actor Amber Midthunder was brought on to Season 2 of "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters" in a recurring role as businesswoman Isabel. When the "Legion" and "Reservation Dogs" star was filming her breakthrough role as Naru on Dan Trachtenberg's "Prey," she was facing a lot of pressure. Surprisingly, it didn't come from detractors calling the movie too "woke." Rather, it stemmed from a self-imposed mission to properly represent indigenous people in a sci-fi action film.

"Every single day I was coming to work, and what I would think about from when I woke up to when I went to bed was, 'How is this representing Native people? How is this representing Comanche people?'" Midthunder told People. "And I just really hoped that Indian Country would like it, because that to me was where it started — that was where I felt like it lives and dies, and then we can go from there."

As for those complaining about the film before even seeing it, Midthunder had a slightly different message. "People are always going to say stuff, but that's just noise. Honestly, those people have no idea what they're talking about," she said.

Tamlyn Tomita plays Cate Randa's mother Caroline on "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters," but she's been a known face since the 1980s. Her very first role was the female lead Kumiko in 1986's "The Karate Kid, Part II" — a part Tomita reprised on "Cobra Kai." She has since gone on to play notable roles on shows such as "Star Trek: Picard," "The Good Doctor," "Heroes," "24," "JAG," "Santa Barbara," and many others. She's also appeared in movies like "The Joy Luck Club" and "The Day After Tomorrow."

Serene as she may seem, Tomita used to be something of a brawler. As she said in a 2017 interview with the Honolulu Star Advertiser, she spent much of her school years physically fighting kids who targeted her and her siblings with racial abuse. "Since I was the eldest, I got into a lot of street fights," Tomita said. "It wasn't just blabbing off. It was being smart enough or articulate enough or taking a stand or responding or reacting, 'You don't know what you're talking about. How dare you say that?' And then I would punch them."

Having to fight other kids just because of the way she looked wasn't the only hardness in Tomita's life. Her father was just 51 when he died of leukemia, an experience Tomita said was particularly difficult.

Character actor Cliff Curtis plays Apex Cybernetics' Special Projects division head Jason Trissop on "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters." His contributions have gone on for quite a while, though. Curtis has established himself as one of the premier "hey, it's that guy" actors of his generation, turning up in a truly astounding variety of projects. He can give a quiet, capable supporting performance in a big blockbuster, play a bombastic villain turn where required, and slip into the shoes of a gruff mentor-slash-big brother type when the situation calls for it. 

Curtis' career may have been successful, but his start in life was rough, to say the least. In a rare personal interview with Marae, he opened up on tragically losing multiple close family members at a very young age. 

"My mom passed away in a car crash with my sister Lana," he said. "I was three and a half." The incident fractured the family quite a bit, and the remaining children got bounced around various places, including the homes of two different aunts who both died of cancer. "We were also staying with Uncle Charlie and Auntie Janie, but Auntie Janie died. She died of cancer, I think. Then, Auntie Tookie died of cancer."

John Goodman might not play a massive role on "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters," but he's an important presence in the Monsterverse. Goodman's Bill Randa is one of the main characters of 2017's "Kong: Skull Island," and memorably turns up in the opening of "Monarch" Season 1. In the show itself, a younger version of Randa is played by Anders Holm.

Goodman is nothing short of legendary, with a lengthy career in hit sitcoms, while the best John Goodman movies are stone cold classics. However, his personal life has been marked by some considerably darker periods. Goodman has a history of alcohol abuse, which has led to periods of depression. "I mean, there's many times I could have gone under. Not overdosed, but... well ... misadventure," he told The Guardian in 2015 about the times before he stopped using alcohol in 2007.

In an earlier interview for The Guardian in 2012, he elaborated further. "It was getting to be too much," Goodman said. "It was 30 years of a disease that was taking its toll on everyone around me and it had got to the point where, every time I did it, it was becoming more and more debilitating. It was life or death. It was time to stop."

"Monarch: Legacy of Monsters" Season 2 is streaming on Apple TV.

If you or anyone you know needs help with mental health or addiction issues, help is available:
- Contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.
- Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).