Warning: massive spoilers for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom are in play. If you haven't seen the film yet, bookmark this page, and come back once you're caught up.
Throughout the entirety of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom's plot, there are various twists and turns that keep the narrative humming -- all the way to its grand finale. Alongside the decision to let the dinosaurs roam free, the film drops a gigantic bombshell with little Maisie Lockwood -- Benjamin's granddaughter, letting the creatures loose into the wilds. And yet, this pretty large moment ties into a more shocking revelation that comes a good deal earlier in the film, which is the true nature of Maisie's existence in the world, and how she came to be. It's that twist that not only serves as a bigger shocker in the Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom storyline, but also ultimately leads up the perfect execution of its final play. This is the last chance to turn away before spoilers kick in, so you've been warned.
We're lead to believe that Benjamin Lockwood is the caretaker of his dear granddaughter in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, due to the untimely passing of her mother in a car crash. While we're not given too many details involving that accident, we later find out that this loss was so devastating to Benjamin that it inspired him to do the one thing that even a young John Hammond couldn't be party to: he cloned his daughter, thus giving her life once more as his presumed granddaughter, Maisie.
On the surface, this twist alone is enough to dive into some of the darker waters that Michael Crichton has been known to explore in his literary career. Once again, humanity found a brand new toy of creation, allowing the creator to believe they're God. Naturally, those in the possession of those creative powers feel allowed to misuse said toy for fun and profit. It's the exact story beat Jurassic Park was born from, though this time it's literally personal. Bringing an extinct species back from erasure is one thing, but to clone a person and raise them in the image of their genetic source is a new, sick wrinkle in the story of the Jurassic World era of the franchise.
This is only the beginning of the nightmare that Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom poses, as after Eli Mills killed Benjamin Lockwood by smothering him, he seems rather insistent on becoming Maisie's guardian. Even when he's faced with Owen and Claire taking Maisie away from him, he sounds as if he thinks he's the best person to care for her, seeing as they "don't know what she really is." It's possible this comment goes deeper than her being a genetic copy of Benjamin's daughter. Rather, it could be an indication of how/if the character will be used in Jurassic World 3.
Two thoughts come to mind when trying to decipher Eli's remarks on Maisie: one is that since she's a clone, she may need some sort of special medical treatment to keep her healthy and free of any defects. Once Owen and Claire drive off with her into the sunrise, they may have doomed her to poor health, and possibly death. But even if that's not a factor, the existence of a successfully cloned human would touch off a firestorm of political, moral, and capitalistic proportions. The laws of nature have been basically violated, and as such even bigger questions of whether we should be playing God will come into play, should Maisie be outed for who and what she is.
But even worse is the fact that Eli probably wanted Maisie as a prime marketing tool for his future endeavors in genetic tampering. What better advertisement do you need than a young girl who acts as a perfect copy of her "mother?" That sells the powers that InGen has at their disposal more effectively than any coupon day at a dinosaur park. It's through that idea that Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom becomes so much more than just a film about protecting dinosaurs -- it becomes about protecting humanity from its darker, albeit sometimes well intentioned, self.
It's hard to know the future of Maisie in Jurassic World's franchise future. Side characters, especially the kids, tend to disappear after one installment. However, the way that Jurassic World and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom tie together on a story level would suggest that since she was so important to the plot of the second film in the trilogy, Maisie will be back around for the third chapter. Let's hope that if she does return, we'll get to delve more into her mysterious origins, and just why she's so important to those who would abuse her existence for personal gain.
