'War For The Planet Of The Apes' Teaser: Charlton Heston Takes Us To The Beginning Of The End

It's the beginning of the end for the Planet of the Apes franchise, or so the enthralling teaser trailer for War for the Planet of the Apes suggests. Or maybe it's just referring tot he human race?

The teaser for the final trailer for War for the Planet of the Apes, the third installment in the Planet of the Apes reboot series, is quite apocalyptic, painting a foreboding picture of human history while showing little new footage from the upcoming film. Yes, that's Charlton Heston narrating, guys.

We rarely devote full posts to trailer teases (the full trailer is set to arrive tomorrow), but this one is too cool and too artfully assembled to ignore.

"I refuse to accept the end of man," Heston intones as flashes of historical footage are intercut with scenes from Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and the upcoming War.

"I believe he will endure, he will prevail."

Black and white historical reels of workers, war, presidents. And glimpses of the monkeys bounding over cars in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, then apes with spears in Dawn.

"Not because alone among God's creatures he has a voice. But because he has a soul, spirit capable of compassion and endurance," Heston continues.

Scenes flash of Caesar, the first ape to gain intelligence thanks to human experimentation, as he bonds with Malcolm (Jason Clarke) in Dawn. There are brief hints of the human-raised chimpanzee's struggle between the tribe he rules and the humans with whom he sympathizes.

"I refuse to accept the end of man," Heston's monologue ominously finishes, as a new scene from War appears at the end of the teaser — a close-up of Caesar's troubled face.

"Witness the end," the teaser declares, announcing the final trailer's release tomorrow. The monologue's origin is not clear, but some have suggested that it's a reading from Heston's autobiography, In the Arena. Heston died in 2008.

Heston starred in the original 1968 Planet of the Apes as an American astronaut who awakens from deep hibernation and finds the Earth overtaken by talking apes, while humans are enslaved and subintelligent. The new series of films function as standalone movies and prequels, set centuries or more before the events of the original movie.

The reboot films of the Planet of the Apes have been stunning blockbusters — both visually, with star Andy Serkis's groundbreaking motion capture performance at the forefront, and critically — making War for the Planet of the Apes /Film's most anticipated movies of the summer.

War for the Planet of the Apes, directed by Matt Reeves and starring Serkis, Woody Harrelson, Steve Zahn, Amiah Miller, Karin Konoval and Terry Notary, hits theaters July 14, 2017.Correction: A previous version of this article said that Heston's monologue comes from the original Planet of the Apes. It does not.