Toho, the studio that created Godzilla, through the end of 2029. This big deal is about to produce a new shared universe for Godzilla to explore, and ScreenRant got an exclusive peek at the project during a recent interview with editor Jake Williams.

Discussing Godzilla's new Kai-Sei era, Williams dug deep into the considerations that went into making this new piece of the kaiju's story. From extraterrestrial adventures to returning faces, Godzilla's new era is going to be one for the books, so Godzilla fans will not want to skip out on the bold initiative when it goes live later this year.

Exclusive Interview with Editor Jake Williams

Q: Godzilla is bigger than ever thanks to Toho and its expansions. Obviously, IDW is pioneering some of the franchise's most impressive growth with the Kai-Sei era. Can you tell me how this new era got its start behind the scenes? How did its creation come about?

JAKE WILLIAMS: The creation of this line started with a simple idea: that every single comic book, whether it’s an adaptation or an original idea, should focus on telling stories that can’t or won’t be told in other mediums. When you’re making Godzilla comics, you want to tell these stories in a way that fans aren’t getting out of the films or television shows. That was my goal when I took over the Godzilla line a year ago, and started building towards this launch. And luckily, IDW and Toho have both been behind us the entire way, which allows us to make something really special.

I knew that I wanted to focus the line around ‘heroes.’ Godzilla is a force of nature, not a character that can grow and change, so I wanted to use the aesthetic and tropes available to us by nature of this being a comic book to create a new breed of kaiju-powered humans.

I took these thoughts to Tim Seeley--a true comics genius, and one of the single most professional writers in the industry--and what we are now calling the Kai-Sei Era began to take shape!

Q: Every era of Godzilla has a certain flavor to it. Some are very grounded, some are very eccentric, and some are experimental. Where do you feel the Kai-Sei era fits within the franchise? How would you describe this era to the fans?

JW: Eccentric and experimental are certainly two words that fit the Kai-Sei Era! I want every moment of this era to feel like a thrill ride. I want you to be turning these pages and gasping. I want you to finish the issue and flip back to page 1 to read it again. I want fans to be theorizing on message boards about where we’re going.

To describe this era to the big Godzilla fans out there, I’d say the Kai-Sei era is like a comic book Heisei Era. While the action on the page isn’t going to feel grounded at all, hopefully the emotions and character moments do.

Q: There is no denying the power of Godzilla and the kaiju genre as a whole these days. So of course, I want to ask why you feel now is the best time to bring Godzilla's shared universe to life at IDW with Toho?

JW: We’re entering a really interesting era of licensed comics, where the owners of these properties are allowing creatives to take incredibly unique swings with the characters. IDW’s very own TMNT: The Last Ronin being a prime example of that. Thanks to the swings that IDW and other publishers have been doing, I feel the audience is primed and ready for a Godzilla universe of this magnitude. There’s an understanding now, for possibly the first time, that licensed comics can be as good as any other books on the shelf.

"There’s an understanding now, for possibly the first time, that licensed comics can be as good as any other books on the shelf."

Q: Looking at Godzilla #1, we are getting our first ongoing series for the kaiju in a decade. What was the process for your team in nailing down its story and approach?

JW: We’re doing the “I can’t believe no one has done this yet” approach to Godzilla. American comic books are typically about super powered beings fighting monsters. Godzilla stories are often about scientists experimenting with forces they don’t understand and getting themselves into trouble with their creations. There’s a pretty obvious (and fun!) way to combine those two stories!

But ultimately, we’re just chasing joy and excitement with this book. We were able to put every single thing we love about comics into one story. We’re able to have shonen-style fights, X-Men style team in-fighting, and a Peter Parker-style character dealing with his internalized anger and sense of responsibility. And we’re able to have all that fun while still wrestling with big questions and themes, in the way all great comics do.

Q: Obviously, Godzilla fans love a good easter egg. Can we expect to see references and throwbacks to certain eras of Godzilla?

JW: I’m not sure if I would call them Easter Eggs exactly, but we’re absolutely mining every piece of Godzilla lore for potential stories. We want this to be a true ongoing, that lasts a very long time, so you can expect all of your favorite kaiju, and other aspects of Godzilla films, to make appearances.

We’re absolutely mining every piece of Godzilla lore for potential stories. We want this to be a true ongoing, that lasts a very long time.

Q: Godzilla #1 promises to introduce a new design for Godzilla. What was it like working with Toho to give the iconic kaiju a makeover? What considerations or challenges did you run into?

JW: Toho is an incredible partner to work with, and I was over the moon when I found out Nikola Cizmesija (with an assist from Deadzone artist Pablo Tunica!) would be able to create a new design for this era of Godzilla comics. Nikola’s first helped us find some of the guard rails--we had inadvertently altered a few of the aspects that Toho viewed as core to Godzilla. But, working with them and taking those notes ultimately made a better product. I’d say the biggest thing to keep in mind while deg Godzilla was the silhouette--as long as you keep that iconic shape, we were allowed to play with a lot of the design elements.

We wanted our Godzilla to look mean and scary--hence its new face--and we wanted to show off the importance of Kai-Sei energy in this universe, which is why you can see the green Kai-Sei energy glowing in its veins.

Q: Of course, Godzilla: Escape the Deadzone will excite fans given its historic hybrid introduction. What kind of challenges did your team face in bringing this all-new character type to the Godzilla Universe?

JW: To be honest…none! There are certain rules for the existing Kaiju in the Toho canon, but it’s a bit of a free-for-all regarding original creations, which allows us to take some really big and interesting swings!

After developing the superpowered G-Force pitch, I knew the sister book in the line should have a really different flavor. I wanted a traveling ronin book, with a bit of a grittier vibe than the core title. I took that idea, and a loose concept of the existence of a Deadzone, to Griffin Sheridan and Ethan S. Parker, and they blew me away with everything they came up with! They crafted the half-kaiju half-man that we call the Wanderer, and then Pablo knocked it out of the park with his initial design. It was fun to see how Tim Seeley’s ideas influenced the creation of this character, and how in turn the Wanderer has helped Tim nail down some things about the universe. It was an incredibly smooth process!

Q: Starship Godzilla is an absolute treat for fans. At last, we get to see the Godzilla Universe go to space rather than see it thrivie on Earth. What was your first reaction to learning about this impending visit to space?

JW: To clarify one thing--these books all exist in the same universe, at around the same time... Godzilla is very much still on Earth. It’s Mechagodzilla, and its crew of misfits, that will be doing a joyride through the cosmos. When Chris Gooch pitched me this idea, I was immediately in love. It’s a perfect flavor to round out the line, and it’s another example of the type of story you aren’t going to find anywhere else. There are so many unique alien races in the Godzilla universe, and I’m stoked to finally take the fight to them.

Q: From Monster X to the Simians, the Godzilla franchise has a rich history of aliens. No spoilers, but we expect to see some familiar races appear in Starship Godzilla?

JW: I’ll spoil it all! I’ll spoil everything! YES, we’re seeing everybody in Starship Godzilla. Xiliens play a key part in the universe…and we have a Simian working onboard the S.S. Mechagodzilla as a crewmember! His name is Lif, and he’s a bit of a hothead.

Q: And of course, the Kai-Sei era is well positioned to introduce some original aliens. What can you tell fans about that expansion ahead of Starship Godzilla's launch?

JW: Chris Gooch and Oliver Ono are two brilliant creators, who are crafting a wholly original take on a sci-fi book. At the end of the day, it’s important to never forget that we’re making Godzilla comics. The existence of kaiju is what makes this entire universe unique. So with every new world we create, we ask ourselves how the existence of kaiju shapes life there. An entire galaxy, filled with new aliens to meet, all affected by these giants that live among us.

Q: In the press release for the Kai-Sei era, you're quoted as saying this initiative is "telling the best Godzilla stories in the world". What are you most excited for fans to discover in this shared universe?

JW: I feel like I wasn’t being emphatic enough. How about “telling the best Godzilla stories that will ever be told, ever.” But, seriously, I’m incredibly excited about all of it. For now I’ll say--there’s a final page reveal in issue 1 of Godzilla that is going to shock people.