Hari Rhodes had in Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972) originated the character of MacDonald that was played by one of his co-stars here, Austin Stoker, in the follow-up film Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973). Stoker would go on to supply the voice of one of the stranded astronauts in the reboot cartoon series Return to the Planet of the Apes (1975). The two actors would also later both have roles in the miniseries Roots (1977), although in far-apart time periods of the story.