Recent news surrounding Jurassic World: Dominion’s continued road to restarting production has dropped a story that, to some, is just business as usual. With the return of several important characters from Jurassic Park, most notably Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill), Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) and Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), it’s not that huge of a surprise that corporate spy Lewis Dodgson is coming back to, undoubtedly, execute some sort of dinosaur-connected scheme. But hardcore fans of Michael Crichton’s source material are probably going insane right now, as this return could have pretty huge implications.
We’re running through both the film and literary iterations of Lewis Dodgson’s life and times in order to explain just why Jurassic World: Dominion’s resurrection of the often memed side character could be more than just grist for the internet to mill some fresh laughs out of. In fact, if Dodgson’s book-bound history is any indication, his return is something that’ll create even more chaos in the world that started with Jurassic Park. First off, let’s start with the most obvious question that some of you may be asking at this moment…
Who Is Lewis Dodgson In The Jurassic Park Canon?
In Steven Spielberg’s 1993 blockbuster Jurassic Park, we meet Lewis Dodgson (Cameron Thor), a representative of rival genetics firm Biosyn. Hiring programmer-turned-turncoat Dennis Nedry (Wayne Knight) to sabotage the park in the name of stealing embryos of each dinosaur in the park’s menagerie, Dodgson engages in this shady deal in order to catch his company up to the level of research that the InGen Corporation is currently perched upon. While we don’t see him return in the movies, Michael Crichton’s sequel novel, The Lost World, sees Lewis Dodgson taking a more hands on approach to pilfering InGen’s groundbreaking research.
Who Is Playing Lewis Dodgson In Jurassic World: Dominion?
Due to a real life scandal involving Cameron Thor’s conviction as a sex offender, there was an understandable need to recast the role of Lewis Dodgson in Jurassic World: Dominion. With a great opportunity to not only expand the character’s cinematic incarnation, but to also put a more legendary character actor into that position, director Colin Trevorrow and his crew have reportedly hired none other than Campbell Scott to fit the bill in this major return.
Campbell Scott’s resume includes everything from TV shows like Royal Pains and House of Cards, as well as films such as Dying Young and Big Night. But audiences at large probably remember Scott best as Peter Parker’s father, Richard, in Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man duology. With the capability to play comedic notes as well as scenes of steely resolve, Scott could be a vital addition to Jurassic World: Dominion’s cast, as he’ll be given the chance to riff with a lot of the cast that have already brought both of those skill sets to the dinosaur-trading table.
Why Is Lewis Dodgson’s Return So Important?
Lewis Dodgson's return to the world of Jurassic World: Dominion is pretty important for several reasons. First, it’s an obvious suggestion that the world and story of Jurassic Park in particular will be even more important to the future of the Jurassic World saga. As it’s pretty open ended, with a new era of films planned on the back of Jurassic World: Dominion, Dodgson’s resurgence as not only a Biosyn employee, but also the company’s current CEO, feels like the stepping stone into that new phase of storytelling.
The second, and more important, reason Lewis Dodgson’s return is a huge feather in the cap of the Jurassic World: Dominion storyline is that it opens the door to borrow more components from Michael Crichton’s original novels. With the original Jurassic Park film trilogy straying from the Crichton stories, especially in the adaptation of The Lost World: Jurassic Park, there’s always been a rift between the novels and the films. However, that gap looks like it could be bridged with Jurassic World: Dominion, with new and exciting avenues for this legendary Jurassic villain waiting in the wings.
What Could Lewis Dodgson’s Return For Jurassic World: Dominion Mean For The Story?
In The Lost World, Lewis Dodgson personally accompanies the Biosyn team that ventures out to Isla Sorna, aka “Site B,” the production floor for the dinosaurs that would be hatched and shipped to Jurassic Park’s Isla Nublar theme park. Somewhat replaced in the film version by Arliss Howard’s Peter Ludlow, Dodgson served a similar function as a character in the original Michael Crichton sequel; right down to his demise involving him becoming food for a T-Rex family.
Not only is Lewis Dodgson’s survival a signal that 1997’s The Lost World: Jurassic Park is now officially canon, but the resurgence of Biosyn under his hand could mean that more corporate warfare between InGen and Biosyn could be had in Jurassic World: Dominion. Even better, Dodgson won’t need to go to a far off island to obtain his own dinosaur specimens, as he could either capture them free range, or has already possibly purchased some of the creatures offered on auction in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.
But let’s go one step further: what if Lewis Dodgson and BioSyn have been shadowing and sabotaging InGen’s efforts to continue operating ever since the original incident at Isla Nublar? We know that B.D. Wong’s Dr. Henry Wu will be returning for Jurassic World: Dominion, and his continued involvement in the trafficking of dinosaurs could mean he has ties to Dodgson and his BioSyn comrades. Not to mention that while it’s assumed that InGen interests were controlling Jurassic World’s Vic Hoskins (Vincent D’Onofrio) in his jingoistic scheme to use raptors for military applications, he may have actually been working for Lewis Dodgson.
Speculation is going to run rampant when something like this Jurassic World: Dominion bombshell drops, and it’s something that’ll help keep fans occupied while waiting for the next film in the saga to drop. As the current release date is still sitting in its original June 11, 2021 slot, we might not need to wait any longer than initially anticipated for this joyous occasion to arrive. But should any brand new developments come through, you can count on CinemaBlend to break the news.
