Maurice (Planet of the Apes)

Maurice
Planet of the Apes character
Maurice in War for the Planet of the Apes (2017)
First appearance	Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)
Last appearance	Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2017)
Created by	Rick Jaffa Amanda Silver
Portrayed by	Karin Konoval
In-universe information
Species	Evolved Orangutan
Occupation	Advisor to Caesar

Maurice is a fictional character in the Planet of the Apes franchise, portrayed by actress Karin Konoval. He is an orangutan gifted with intelligence from the ALZ-113 and a founding member of Caesar's ape colony. He is one of the principal characters in the reboot film trilogy: Rise (2011), Dawn (2014), and War (2017), also appearing briefly in the first scene of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024) in a flashback sequence.

Maurice serves as Caesar's closest friend and advisor. He also serves as the ape colony's teacher and mentor to all the younger apes, teaching them how to communicate through sign language.

Character biography

In his first appearance in Rise, Maurice is a former circus orangutan who lives at the San Bruno Primate Shelter. He recognizes that Caesar, who has enhanced intelligence as a result of the ALZ-112 virus, is different from the other apes, and communicates with him through sign language. Caesar and Maurice become friends. When Caesar returns to his old home and steals canisters of the ALZ-113 virus, Maurice is among the apes exposed to it and develops human-like intelligence, joining Caesar's ape colony. Maurice escapes from the shelter alongside Caesar and the other apes, and they attack the Golden Gate Bridge. Later, Maurice and the others seek shelter in the Muir Woods, which they make their new home, while the ALZ-113 virus slowly spreads around the world, making apes more intelligent and decimating the human population.

In Dawn, set ten years later, Maurice is a lieutenant in Caesar's colony, alongside Rocket and Koba, and has become an overseer and teacher to the younger apes of the colony. The apes come across a group of humans in the forest, one of whom shoot's Rocket's son Ash. Maurice joins Caesar and the other apes to confront and intimidate the humans. The humans flee, with the teenager Alexander dropping his satchel as he runs. Maurice becomes fascinated with the satchel, which contains a sketchbook and a graphic novel. The ape council convenes on what to do about the humans, and while Koba insist the apes attack to protect their village, Maurice acknowledges that it may be dangerous to engage them with battle. Caesar ends up siding with Maurice. Maurice and the other apes march on horseback to San Francisco to confront the human colony. A human named Malcolm leads a group to the ape village, explaining to Caesar that they had been in the woods looking for a dam that could produce power for their colony. Maurice meets with Alexander, who turns out to be Malcolm's son. Alexander shows Maurice more of his drawings and comics, allowing Maurice to finally embrace the goodness of humanity. Maurice and other apes join Malcolm's group to repair the dam. The dam is repaired, and the apes join in a celebration. Caesar is shot as the village bursts into flames. Koba declares that the humans killed Caesar. Knowing Malcolm and his group were right next to Caesar when he was shot and are innocent, Maurice tells them to run for their lives. Koba takes control of the ape colony; Maurice and some other apes refuse to follow his violent uprising, and Koba locks them in cages. The day after the battle, Maurice and the other captives escape, and make their way to an abandoned house where they find a still-alive Caesar being nursed back to health by Malcolm's wife Ellie. Caesar later kills Koba, and Maurice is scarred in the battle.

In War (2017), a war breaks out between the ape army and a human paramilitary group known as Alpha-Omega. When their leader, the Colonel, leads a strike team into the ape's home and kills Caesar's wife Cornelia and friend Blue Eyes, Caesar begins a quest to find Alpha-Omega's base and kill the Colonel in return. Maurice accompanies him, alongside Rocket and a gorilla named Luca. On their journey, they come across a young human girl who is unable to speak. She is terrified of the apes, but Maurice calms her down. Maurice realizes that the girl will not survive without them, and so takes her along. He begins teaching her sign language and names her Nova. The group encounters Bad Ape, a chimpanzee gifted with the same intelligence as Caesar and his colony, who joins them. When the team reaches the outskirts of the border facility, they are attacked by human soldiers, who they kill at the cost of Luca's life. Maurice realizes how dangerous it was to come here and urges Caesar to turn back, but he ignores Maurice. In his anger, Caesar orders Maurice and the others to rejoin the colony back home and leaves for the facility to kill the Colonel alone. Maurice and the others stay behind despite Caesar's orders to leave, and make their way to the base to make sure he is alright. They find he has been taken prisoner, and the entire ape colony has been captured. Maurice and the others begin concocting a plan to escape. Maurice, Bad Ape, and Nova locate an underground tunnel that leads under the complex's prisons, with they use to go underneath the prisons. Maurice and the others help the other apes out and herd them out of the facility. Later, after Caesar has destroyed the base, Maurice and the others trek for miles and find the Oasis, where they settle down in their new home. Caesar reveals he is suffering from a fatal wound and will soon die. Maurice begins to cry, but Caesar promises that the colony will be fine. Maurice promises to look after Caesar's son Cornelius, as Caesar dies peacefully.

Production

Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver wrote the script for Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), creating the character of Maurice. Maurice was named after actor Maurice Evans, who played Dr. Zaius, another orangutan, in the original Planet of the Apes film. Like the other ape characters in the film, Maurice is portrayed using motion capture animation, with actress Karin Konoval providing the movements for the character. Konoval prepared for the role by observing Towan, a 41-year-old male orangutan at Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, Washington.