When the Jurassic Park franchise came back in 2015, it notably didn't come back specifically as Jurassic Park. Instead, what audiences have seen with the Jurassic World movies has been more off a branch-off, centering on a new group of central protagonists.
That's changing in a major way with the third installment, however, given that the upcoming and untitled Jurassic World 3 is reuniting Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum to work alongside the more recent franchise stars. And the reason why that's only happening now, according to director Colin Trevorrow, is because this is the story that has discovered the way to organically bring everyone back together.
Jurassic World 3 hasn't actually started production yet, but the filmmaker recently spoke about the production with Empire, and in that conversation touched on why now is the time to bring back the original Jurassic Park stars. Seemingly recognizing how Jurassic World very much echoes Steven Spielberg's original 1993 movie, Trevorrow explained,
We’d have had to come up with a reason why Ellie, Malcolm and Grant all went to the theme park on the exact same day it broke down – again. The next film allows the legacy characters to be a part of the story in an organic way. Emily Carmichael and I call it Jurassic Park VI, because it is.
J.A. Bayona's Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom, the last chapter in this franchise, notably tied the newest era back to the original with the inclusion of Jeff Goldblum as fan favorite character Ian Malcolm - but he was entirely separated from the action in the movie. The part involved him testifying in favor of letting the surviving dinosaurs of the world go extinct, and that sequence was split up and featured at both the beginning and end of the film. He was a notable presence, but hardly a key part of the plot.
With Colin Trevorrow saying that Jurassic World 3 is basically Jurassic Park IV, we can assume that not only will Ian Malcolm have a much more significant part to play (which would be the the first time since Steven Spielberg's The Lost World: Jurassic Park), but obviously also Alan Grant and Ellie Degler nee Satler.
Fans will remember that Grant was the central protagonist of Joe Johnston's Jurassic Park III, but while Ellie had a role to play, the next chapter of this franchise will likely be her most significant since the original film.
B.D. Wong will also be among the members of the Jurassic Park First Class reprising their roles in Jurassic World 3, while Chris Pratt's Owen Grady and Bryce Dallas Howard's Claire Dearing are returning as well. Will the film also have parts for Joseph Mazzello's Tim and Ariana Richards' Lex? We'll have to wait and see.
Colin Trevorrow has co-written the script for Jurassic World 3 with Pacific Rim: Uprising writer Emily Carmichael. Universal Pictures has already announced that the movie will be hitting theaters on June 11, 2021, so expect production to start up in the first half of next year.
