Credit: Inside the MagicWhile no casting has been confirmed, rising star Jenna Ortega may appear in the upcoming sequel Jurassic World 4, having already starred in the animated series.
The last few years have been a rollercoaster of success for 21-year-old actress Jenna Ortega. Having already appeared in well-known movies like Iron Man 3 (2013) and Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013), the Netflix Addams Family spinoff series Wednesday (2022) launched Ortega into pop culture and made her a household name overnight.
That same year, she played Tara Carpenter in the long-running Scream franchise in Scream (2022). She returned for Scream VI (2023), and though she was set to reprise her role in the seventh installment, it was recently confirmed that she had exited the now-seemingly-failed project over a pay dispute (echoing Neve Campbell’s departure from the sixth entry).
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Still, the future looks very bright for Ortega. Wednesday Season 2 is in development, and she’ll be starring in the long-awaited sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024). But what about her future in the Jurassic franchise? Will she reprise her role as Brooklynn from Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous (2020 — 2022), but this time in live action?
Even those familiar with Ortega’s acting resume might not be aware of her voice-acting credentials, as she plays the infectiously-energetic, pink-haired teen “vlogger” Brooklynn (an underrated character) in all five seasons of the Netflix animated series, which centers on a group of teens stranded on Isla Nublar following the dinosaur breakout as seen in Jurassic World (2015).
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Camp Cretaceous was a hit with viewers on the streaming service, and though it’s mostly a goofy Saturday morning cartoon-inspired television series that takes from the six accompanying Jurassic films far more than it gives, it still pleased plenty of diehard fans of the Jurassic franchise. Its canonicity is also highly questionable.
While showrunner Scott Kreamer has previously stated that Camp Cretaceous is canon, it’s hard to believe when you have remote-control dinosaurs, laser-guided robot dogs, futuristic biomes, and all other kinds of weird things you couldn’t imagine existing off-screen within the live-action Jurassic cinematic universe. It’s just far too silly for its own good.
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But Camp Cretaceous must have done something right because a follow-up animated series titled Jurassic World: Chaos Theory (2024) is heading to Netflix later this year. It takes place between Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) and Jurassic World Dominion (2022) and sees the return of lead character Darius Bowman (Paul Mikél Williams).
However, it’s unknown whether Ortega and the rest of the Camp Cretaceous ensemble (Sean Giambrone’s Ben Pincus, Kausar Mohammed’s Yasmina “Yaz” Fadoula, Ryan Potter’s Kenji Kon, and Raini Rodriguez’ Sammy Gutierrez) will return. But we may eventually see them in live action, especially now that a new Jurassic World movie is in the works.
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Who’s in Jurassic World 4?
Recently, it was confirmed that Jurassic World 4 is in development. Universal Pictures was initially in talks with Deadpool 2 (2018) director David Leitch, who is no longer attached to the project. Jurassic Park (1993) and The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) screenwriter David Koepp is back, alongside Jurassic World trilogy producers Frank Marshall and Patrick Cowley and EP Steven Spielberg.
No cast members from previous films are expected to return, but the sequel may introduce an entirely new generation of characters, which may include some, if not all, of the Cast Cretaceous lineup. In fact, this year’s Jurassic World: Chaos Theory could pave the way for the upcoming film, which is reportedly aiming for a July 2, 2025 release.
In her apparent quest to conquer Hollywood, Jenna Ortega’s Jurassic return would make a lot of sense. She’s already faced off against werewolves and serial killers — what’s a few dinosaurs?
Would you like to see Jenna Ortega reprise her role as Brooklynn in Jurassic World 4? Let Inside the Magic know your thoughts in the comments down below!