Gareth Edwards’s Godzilla II.

WARNING: LONG.

Here’s how I think Edwards would’ve approached Godzilla II if he got to direct it…

1. He would’ve kept Godzilla pretty much the same minus a few minor behavioral and aesthetic differences. I imagine that Godzilla would’ve had bigger spines than in the first movie, and would’ve acted a bit more aggressive towards humanity. For instance, if some military force tried to interfere with his fight against Ghidorah, Godzilla would’ve engaged with them for a short period of time before going back to fighting Ghidorah. He also probably would’ve gotten some power boost during the final battle like what happened towards the end of KOTM. But as for what power up he’d get, maybe it would’ve been his red beam or nuclear pulse.
2. As for Mothra, Rodan, and Ghidorah, I think Edwards would’ve handled them very similarly to the way Micheal Dougherty handled them in KOTM, with Mothra being an ancient ally of Godzilla, Rodan being a fire god who is awakened from a volcano, and Ghidorah being an alien monster who exists outside the natural order. However, I believe their designs would differ slightly from their KOTM counterparts. For example, Mothra would’ve sported her traditional colors of orange, black, yellow, red, and dark blue, while Rodan wouldn’t have had magma for blood. As for Ghidorah, I think that if Edwards decided to lean into his extraterrestrial origins, he would’ve looked a lot more otherworldly than how he looked in KOTM. To get an idea of what I’m talking about, think of the alternate designs that concept artist Ken Barthelmey did during pre-production for KOTM.
3. As for the story and it’s characters, I think Edwards would’ve explored the inner workings of Monarch, with the protagonist either being someone who works for the organization or a journalist or conspiracy theorist who tries to uncover the organization’s secrets about Godzilla and the other monsters (much like Joe Brody investigating the MUTOS from the first movie and Bernie Hayes investigating APEX from GVK). The story would’ve revolved around the protagonist wanting to get dirt on Monarch for keeping the existence of Godzilla and the MUTOs a secret from the world. They would’ve been a survivor of San Francisco who lost their loved ones during the battle. While trying to expose Monarch, the protagonist stumbles upon some classified information about Mothra, Rodan, and Ghidorah, and before they can warn the world about their existence, each monster is awakened by a group of eco-terrorists or through other man-made means like fracking, drilling, and melting glaciers caused by climate change.
4. Meanwhile, world governments would be scrambling to create new weapons to kill Godzilla, while Monarch would be on Godzilla’s side. Much like in KOTM, Serizawa and Graham would argue for Godzilla’s importance in maintaining the natural order, but each nation would ignore them during a United Nations meeting, instead agreeing to invest into developing new defense technology to counter Godzilla and other MUTOs that may surface in the future.
5. As for the world building around the monsters, this is where things get a little tricky to figure. On one hand, it would make sense that Edwards would try and ground the monsters more than in KOTM by having them behave more like real animals. But in the other hand, when handling monsters like Mothra and Ghidorah, leaning more into a mythical approach would make a lot of sense considering they are the most fantastical out of the three monsters Legendary got from Toho. So what I’m thinking is that Edwards would’ve either leaned more into his naturalistic approach from the first movie, or lean more into KOTM’s mythological approach. As for the world building around humanity, I think we definitely would’ve seen a big leap in technology from the first movie considering that Gareth Edwards is a huge Star Wars fan, and likely would’ve taken some visual inspiration from Rogue One. We probably would’ve seen world militaries with Argo-like aircraft and maser-like tanks, and possibly even the beginnings of mechanized suits (like the jaegers in Pacific Rim and Mechagodzilla from GVK). In other words, this movie would’ve leaned heavily into science fiction territory like KOTM, but with a darker and more grounded spin. Basically, if KOTM was more of a modern Heisei Era film, Gareth Edward’s sequel would’ve been more of a gritty, science fiction thriller in the veins of Rogue One, and Bladerunner with giant monsters mixed in.
6. I also think we would’ve seen how people reacted to seeing Godzilla and the MUTOs from the first movie. We would’ve seen some heated debates among different groups over whether Godzilla should be seen as a hero or enemy to humanity. We also would’ve see some civil unrest and anarchy that would lead to governments implementing martial law. The protagonist would’ve been a journalist who thought Godzilla was an enemy, but much like Mark Russell in KOTM, they would’ve had a change of perspective and come to view Godzilla as humanity’s protector.
7. I think the tone would’ve been the same as the first movie, with Edwards framing the monsters the same way he did for the first movie. But unlike the first movie, its sequel would’ve introduced for science fiction elements like advanced military technology, and Ghidorah being an alien.

Honestly, I think the Russells were a better fit for Edwards than Dougherty.

@sonictiger: What makes your think so?

sonictiger

In my opinion, the Russells specifically feel like dougherty.

In most of his films I see of his, there usually is a broken family, or family dealing with divorce or whatever. 

Edwards' cast I think was better acted than most of Dougherty (save for MBB), and I just think it could have a better connection to the Brodys as they both came from different viewpoints, and Gareth handling that would be interesting.  Also, his tone of Godzilla feels like a better fit.