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The dinosaurs aren’t done with us yet. A sequel to Jurassic World Rebirth is officially in the works at Universal, and screenwriter David Koepp, currently out on the press tour for Disclosure Day, just pulled back the curtain on exactly where things stand.
Speaking with Screen Rant, Koepp explained that the biggest hurdle of Rebirth was wrangling a franchise that had sprawled in every direction. “I think that the challenge of Rebirth was the franchises have become very big, very spread out,” he said. “Let’s make the dinosaurs special again by restricting them. So we restricted them to this thing, and then the challenge becomes, okay, now how do we logically and in a scientifically believable way expand?”
How Do You Make Dinosaurs Special Again? David Koepp Has a Theory for the Jurassic World Rebirth sequel
In other words: the magic is in the restraint, and the sequel’s whole creative puzzle is figuring out how to grow the world back without losing the wonder. It’s a smart problem to have, especially coming off a film that proved there’s still plenty of life in this 32-year-old saga.
And the band is getting back together. Scarlett Johansson is expected to reprise her role as covert ops expert Zora Bennett, with Bridgerton breakout Jonathan Bailey and two-time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali also anticipated to return. Per Jeff Sneider’s newsletter TheInSneider, director Gareth Edwards is in final negotiations to climb back into the director’s chair, keeping the core team intact for round eight.
It’s a savvy bet on Johansson, who remains one of the most bankable stars in the business. Johansson currently sits in second place among all actors with a staggering $15.4 billion in worldwide box office earnings, and Rebirth marked her first-ever dinosaur movie. Not a bad debut in the genre.
The seventh entry in the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World lineage, Rebirth shrugged off mixed reviews to gross a mighty $869 million globally and snag an Oscar nomination for Best Visual Effects. That combination of critical respectability and serious box office muscle is precisely what convinced Universal to greenlight more.
For now, Koepp says the team is still in the early stages of cracking the story. But the mission statement is clear: keep the dinosaurs special, and earn every inch of expansion. A new era was born with Rebirth. The next one is already roaring to life.
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