In some rather interesting news, the upcoming War for the Planet of the Apes will feature a character seen in the original Planet of the Apes and Beneath the Planet of the Apes.

Courtesy of Entertainment Weekly, 20th Century Fox has debuted a production painting that features a young blonde girl who was actually seen briefly in the film’s first trailer. Elaborating on the girl, EW has confirmed that her name is Nova, which just so happens to be the name of the mute primitive human seen in those two original movies. In those films, Nova was played by Linda Harrison. Of course, this serves as yet another nice nod to connect the current spate of Apes movies to the original film series. It also opens up the prospect of Nova playing a more prominent war as this current cinematic franchise moves forward.

On this addition to War for the Planet of the Apes, director Matt Reeves told the outlet, “The battle is not just between the humans and the apes, but in Caesar’s soul. The girl is his pull back to his empathy and – for lack of a better word – his human side.”

The current blurb on War reads:

In War for the Planet of the Apes, the third chapter of the critically acclaimed blockbuster franchise, Caesar and his apes are forced into a deadly conflict with an army of humans led by a ruthless Colonel. After the apes suffer unimaginable losses, Caesar wrestles with his darker instincts and begins his own mythic quest to avenge his kind. As the journey finally brings them face to face, Caesar and the Colonel are pitted against each other in an epic battle that will determine the fate of both their species and the future of the planet.

Starring Andy Serkis, Woody Harrelson, Steve Zahn, Terry Notary and Karin Konoval, War for the Planet of the Apes is currently set for a July 14th, 2017 release.