Credit: Universal StudiosSome movie franchises appear to be immune to reboots. The first one that always comes to mind is Back to the Future. Even the creators Bob Gale (writer/producer) and Robert Zemeckis (writer/director) have gone on record to condemn the idea.
Another is the seemingly untouchable Star Wars. In a recent interview with The Happy Sad Confused podcast, Kick-Ass (2010) and Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) director Matthew Vaughn put forward the idea of rebooting the beloved franchise.
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And then there’s Jurassic Park, AKA Jurassic World. The long-running film series is still going strong, having just last year released its sixth installment, Jurassic World Dominion (2022), which grossed over $1 billion worldwide.
The film follows Jurassic Park (1993), The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), Jurassic Park III (2001), Jurassic World (2015), Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018), and the animated Netflix series Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous (2020 — 2022).
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Whether it’s Back to the Future, Star Wars, or Jurassic Park, the idea of someone else playing characters we’ve seen on the screen for decades, most of them played by actors now synonymous with those roles, is, frankly, quite weird and unwelcome.
That said, there are examples of this having already happened. The stage production Back to the Future: The Musical (2020) has an entirely new cast, while Star Wars has recast plenty of characters, mainly because it’s always flittering back and forth along its timeline.
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As for Jurassic Park, it might not seem so obvious, but when you look at the wider franchise, especially where it overlaps with other properties, you’ll realize it’s already happened here, too. Since Jurassic World (2015), the franchise has crossed paths with LEGO animation.
Recently, to celebrate the original 1993 film’s 30th anniversary, a new LEGO short titled LEGO Jurassic Park: The Unofficial Retelling (2023) was released on NBCUniversal’s streaming service, Peacock. Check out the official trailer below:
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The film is a 22-minute reboot of Steven Spielberg’s 1993 masterpiece, and though, of course, it is not canon with the films, the fact it’s a celebration of the beloved classic means that it sees the return of many Jurassic Park (1993) legacy characters.
As such, Alan Grant, Ellie Sattler, Ian Malcolm, Dennis Nedry, John Hammond, Ray Arnold, Ellie Sattler, Tim Murphy, Lex Murphy, and Robert Muldoon are all back. However, as this is a LEGO reboot of the 1993 film, they aren’t voiced by their live-action counterparts.
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Before the film’s release, finding out who voices these characters wasn’t easy. But now that it’s streaming, naturally, the credits reveal which actors have replaced the likes of Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Wayne Knight, Richard Attenborough, Arianna Richards, Joe Mazzello, and Samuel L Jackson.
So here are the voice actors behind LEGO Jurassic Park: The Unofficial Retelling, along with their respective characters:
Bradley Duffey — Ian Malcolm
Jewel Staite — Ellie Sattler
Mackenzie Gray — John Hammond
Adrian Hough — Alan Grant
Ian Hanlin — Robert Muldoon
Alex Barima — Ray Arnold
William Kuklis — Dennis Nedry
Ayla Rose Evans — Lex Murphy
Dominic Good — Tim Murphy
In the films, these characters are played by Sam Neill (Alan Grant), Laura Dern (Ellie Sattler), Jeff Goldblum (Ian Malcolm), Richard Attenborough (the late John Hammond), Wayne Knight (Dennis Nedry), Arianna Richards (Lex Murphy), Joe Mazzello (Tim Murphy), Bob Peck (Robert Muldoon), and Samuel L Jackson (Ray Arnold).
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Fans wanting more animated Jurassic action have Jurassic World: Chaos Theory (TBA) to look forward to, which will reportedly follow on from Camp Cretaceous on Netflix.
As for a live-action Jurassic Park reboot, though it’s unlikely to happen, there are many examples of franchises with more than one continuity. Such a project could follow Michael Crichton’s two Jurassic Park novels more closely. In fact, we recently had fun imagining which actors could replace the likes of Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum.
Will it ever happen, though? Never say never, because Hollywood always “finds a way.”
LEGO Jurassic Park: The Unofficial Retelling is now streaming on Peacock.
Have you watched LEGO Jurassic Park: The Unofficial Retelling on Peacock? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!