Following his time directing the first two movies in the Jurassic Park film series, Steven Spielberg has remained involved with the dinosaur-packed franchise as an executive producer. So naturally during the making of Jurassic World Dominion, director Colin Trevorrow kept Spielberg updated on the movie’s progress. As it turns out, there’s one particular scene in Dominion that Spielberg got emotional about when Trevorrow shared it with him: the reunion of Jurassic Park’s original starring trio.
Although we’ve spent additional time with Sam Neill’s Alan Grant, Jeff Goldblum’s Ian Malcolm and Laura Dern’s Ellie Sattler following Jurassic Park’s release in 1993, Jurassic World Dominion marks the first time they’ve all been together since the movie that kicked off this saga. So it’s understandable why Steven Spielberg reacted the way he did, as Colin Trevorrow laid out during an interview with Empire:
The moment everybody shows up for the first time together, they’re all packed into a Jeep. And I took a picture of it and I sent it to Steven [Spielberg]. He got very emotional. I don’t think even he was prepared for how moving it would be to see all of those characters that he loves, and people that he loves, looking incredible and on an adventure together.
It was through Alan Grant, Ian Malcolm and Ellie Sattler that moviegoing audiences got to witness the wonder of Jurassic Park for the first time, with Richard Attenborough’s John Hammond inviting them out to his island attraction to get them to sign off on its safety. Naturally things went sideways on Isla Nublar quickly, but that wasn’t the end of their time with cloned dinosaurs. Jeff Goldblum reprised Ian Malcolm as a leading character in The Lost World: Jurassic Park and briefly appeared in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, while Sam Neill starred in Jurassic Park III and Laura Dern cameoed in that same movie. Now these three are under the same Jurassic umbrella, and props to Colin Trevorrow for getting Steven Spielberg choked up seeing the characters reunited.
For those concerned about Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum and Laura Dern’s roles in Jurassic World Dominion, not to worry. It’s been said multiple times that they’ll be just as important to the movie as Chris Pratt’s Owen Grady and Bryce Dallas Howard’s Claire Dearing, the main protagonists of the Jurassic World film series. During the months Dominion’s production was paused due to the pandemic, Colin Trevorrow was able to figure out the balancing act of ensuring these two generations of Jurassic heroes all had a significant amount of screen time. As the filmmaker put it:
A movie like this, with our legacy characters playing as large a role as our modern characters, it’s challenging to bring it all together in a way that has momentum, and also isn’t a five-hour-long movie. It was nice to have the time to make sure that every character is honored in the way that they need to be.
These five characters aren’t the only familiar faces that will be present for Jurassic World Dominion. We’ll also reunite with BD Wong’s Henry Wu, Daniella Pineda’s Zia Rodriguez, Justice Smith’s Franklin Webb, Isabella Sermon’s Maisie Lockwood and Omar Sy’s Barry Sembène. Dominion will also see Campbell Scott taking over the role of Lewis Dodgson, and the other newcomers include Mamoudou Athie, Scot Haze, Dichen Lachman and DeWanda Wise. Along with directing the feature, Colin Trevorrow co-wrote the script with Emily Carmichael.
Jurassic World Dominion opens in theaters on June 10, 2022, and has been described by Chris Pratt as being the “Avengers: Endgame” of this franchise. While we wait for more information about this blockbuster event, look through our 2022 release schedule to learn out what other movies arrive next year.