Decades after Steven Spielberg first brought dinosaurs roaring back to life on the big screen, the Jurassic Park series evolved in a new direction – the Jurassic World sequel trilogy, with new leads in Chris Pratt’s Owen Grady and Bryce Dallas Howard’s Claire Dearing. But in the upcoming Jurassic World 3, Claire and Owen are going to be joined by some familiar faces – filmmaker Colin Trevorrow has confirmed that Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum will all be back, reprising their iconic roles of Alan Grant, Ellie Sattler, and Ian Malcolm. And these aren’t just going to be brief cameos – they’re all back in “major roles”.
The news was confirmed at a screening of Jurassic World at the ArcLight in Hollywood last night, hosted by Collider and attended by Trevorrow and Dern, who dished the tantalising update to a crowd of fans. The writer-directed first told the audience that Dern would be back in “a major role, not a cameo, in the whole movie”, before inviting Dern to reveal some additional news. “I love dinosaurs, I love that you love them like we do, and if it’s not asking too much, if I’m going to get to join this party again I would hate to not bring my friends Sam Neill and Jeff Goldblum with me. Is that ok with you?” she said. Trevorrow then reiterated: “Sam Neill and Jeff Goldblum and Laura Dern are returning in major roles in Jurassic World 3.”
This will mark the first appearances of Grant and Sattler in the World series – Goldblum popped up for a brief, pivotal cameo in last year’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, arguing that the Isla Nublar dinosaurs should be left to go extinct in the face of an impending volcano eruption. He’ll likely not be thrilled that some of the genetically-engineered dinosaurs not only survived, but are now loose in America and possibly beyond.
As for Grant, he was last seen escaping Isla Sorna with the military thanks to Sattler’s intervention in the climax of Jurassic Park III. In that film, we learn that Grant is still an academic palaeontologist, enraptured by raptor research, and Sattler is a writer – but they're no longer a couple. Instead, she's married-with-kids to boring guy Mark.
Will the underwhelming end of their relationship be readdressed by Trevorrow and co-writerEmily Carmichael? How will the trio react to news of major dinosaur activity on the mainland? Will Malcolm’s acrobatic daughter return to once again kick a raptor square in the face? All will be revealed when_Jurassic World 3_hits cinemas in summer 2021. In the meantime, you can watch Colin Trevorrow’s recent Jurassic short film Battle At Big Rock – teasing the consequences of Fallen Kingdom’s finale – here.