Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow has teased that we could be seeing more classic characters from the original Jurassic Park trilogy make a return in the third film.
In a recent MTV interview, Trevorrow was asked about the prospect of legacy characters making cameos in the film, much in the same way that Jeff Goldblum cameoed as his famous character, Dr. Ian Malcolm in Fallen Kingdom. To this, Trevorrow responded:
We felt like this was Malcolm’s return. This was his… let him have his moment. I feel that way about everyone, especially Laura [Dern], in that she never got to have her own movie. That identified as being something that’s important. I feel like this moment with Goldblum, because he had this very clear set of ethical questions that he was able to pose for everyone, we just wanted to put the spotlight on him.
When asked about where he thought the kids of the original Jurassic Park were in the current timeline of the universe, Trevorrow joked, “You know, they probably didn’t go to Jurassic World.”
The kids they are referring to are, of course, Tim Murphy and Lex Murphy, Richard Attenborough’s grandchildren, played by Joseph Mazello and Ariana Richards respectively.
When asked whether audiences would feel robbed if they didn’t see the likes of Dr. Alan Grant again, Trevorrow admitted that he “totally agree[d] with that. I would feel robbed too, yeah.”
On this episode of Seen It, Spill It, @JoshuaHorowitz helps get you the answers you want and need from @JurassicWorld: #FallenKingdom. pic.twitter.com/Q0JstfBlcr
— MTV (@MTV) June 27, 2018
This has led many to speculate that Sam Neill’s Alan Grant – the heroic paleontologist from the very first Jurassic Park – may make a cameo appearance, or at least there may be a strong possibility. The same may also apply to Dr. Ellie Satler, whose actress, Laura Dern, Trevorrow brought up during the exchange.
However, Neill was asked whether he would reprise what is arguably his most well-known role back in an interview conducted in 2016, giving a rather humorous response that put this into doubt:
I think the problem is that no one knows where Alan Grant is anymore. He’s retired from paleontology. He’s sick to death of dinosaurs and running. He’s not quite as fleet of foot as he was, and he’s now retired to Dayton, Ohio, and has a very successful accountancy business. I think that’s what’s happened to Alan. Either that or he’s dead.
Still, actors have denied they would return to famous roles and have eventually gone on to reprise them anyway so it isn’t completely out of the question.
The idea of old characters returning is an interesting change of heart from Trevorrow. He said in a 2015 interview with Empire in regards to bringing back characters from previous films: “I respect those actors too much to shoehorn them into this story for my own sentimental reasons. Jurassic Park isn’t about the bad luck of three people who keep getting thrown into the same situation.”
Would you like to see old characters from the Jurassic Park franchise make a return? If so, which ones? Let us know in the comments!