While the dinosaurs are the undeniable A-listers of the Jurassic movies, the human cast of Jurassic World Dominion includes plenty of reasons for fans to be excited. Not only will Colin Trevorrow’s threequel unite Chris Pratt’s Owen Grady and Bryce Dallas Howard’s Claire Dearing with OG Jurassic Park icons Alan Grant (Sam Neill), Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) and Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), but a handful of fresh faces will be joining them too. Get ready to meet Kayla Watts, a fearless pilot played by DeWanda Wise, fresh from her roles in the She’s Gotta Have It series and stylish Western The Harder They Fall.
With cloned dinosaurs now roaming in the wild after the events of Fallen Kingdom, Dominion will find Kayla getting up close and personal with prehistoric beasts like the Quetzalcoatlus and the Pyroraptor – and Wise found herself in a similar situation, stepping onto extensive sets and rubbing shoulders with the animatronic dinos that brought this Jurassic world to life. “There’s nothing like being dropped into a space to go, like, ‘Got it. I know how to walk now’,” she tells Empire of her experiences on the epic Pinewood soundstages. “This is Kayla’s world. She’s fresh out of the Air Force and her main thing is flying cargo: mostly dinosaur stuff, but it could be anything.”
Among all the scaly (and feathery) creatures that she encountered, there was one in particular that captured Wise’s heart. “If you are even a little bit of an animal lover, even a smidge, it’s just remarkable. I was shown the Lystrosaurus early and named him Leonard,” she says. “I would like to take him home. It’s honestly wildly overwhelming, how much affection you can feel for this thing that you know logically is not real.” The #TeamLeonard campaign begins now.
Read Empire’s full Jurassic World Dominion story – and see an exclusive new image of the Pyroraptor – in the Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness issue, on sale Thursday 17 March and available to pre-order online here. Jurassic World Dominion hits UK cinemas on 10 June.