Credit: Universal PicturesThe Jurassic Park sequel will reveal the fate of a beloved character from the 1993 film.
“Now, eventually, you do plan to have dinosaurs on your dinosaur tour, right?” a sarcastic Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) asks John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) in Jurassic Park (1993), one of many iconic quotes uttered by the lovable mathematician in the film.
Of course, he makes a valid point. In the film, InGen CEO and entrepreneur John Hammond invites a team of guests to sign off on his Costa Rican theme park resort where scientists have genetically engineered prehistoric dinosaurs using fossilized DNA preserved in amber.
As such, Dr. Ian Malcolm, paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill), paleobotanist Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), and InGen lawyer Donald Gennaro (Martin Ferrero), along with Hammond’s young grandchildren, Lex Murphy (Ariana Richards) and Tim Murphy (Joe Mazzello), are sent on a private tour of Isla Nublar.
Related: All 4 Upcoming ‘Jurassic Park’/’Jurassic World’ Sequels Explained
The park isn’t open yet but there are still dinosaurs inside the jungle enclosures situated alongside several miles’ worth of road along which the self-driving Jungle Cruisers operate. But, as the first of many signs InGen has no control, the dinosaurs aren’t playing ball. Beyond seeing a herd of Brachiosaurus and Parasaurolophus, the tour is a bit of a dud.
As a disheartened John Hammond tells his team, “Two no-shows and one sick Triceratops.” The “two no-shows” he’s referring to are the Dilophosaurus and the Tyrannosaurus Rex, neither of which are seen by the tour group while their explorers wait patiently.
The Triceratops, on the other hand, is the only dinosaur of the three the group does see. After hearing a deep groan from a nearby field, Grant, Sattler, Malcolm, Gennaro, Lex, and Tim file out of their jeeps to investigate the source of the sound.
In the middle of a large clearing, they stumble upon a large Triceratops lying on its side and being nursed by park warden Dr. Gerry Harding (Gerald R Molen). The characters are in their element to see such a beautiful dinosaur up, close, and personal — even if it is sick.
While the group is eventually forced to return to the vehicles when a tropical storm makes landfall, Sattler stays behind with Harding to tend to the animal. But that’s the last we ever hear of the Triceratops — with all the chaos that ensues, Sattler never gets the chance to report back to the others on her findings.
Ultimately, the sick Triceratops is really nothing more than yet another indicator that InGen has no idea what’s going on with its own dinosaurs. Still, fans have been eager to know why this animal was sick in the first place, and what happened to it in the aftermath of the dinosaur breakout, for 31 years.
Related: ‘Jurassic World 4’ Everything We Know: Plot, Cast, Release Date, Trailer, and News
Now, they may finally get their chance to learn about the fate of the Triceratops. The upcoming first-person action-adventure video game “Jurassic Park: Survival” (TBA) is, after all, a direct sequel to the original 1993 film that takes place just 24 hours later.
Thanks to a cinematic trailer (which includes some gameplay footage), an official website, and a recent exclusive interview with IGN, we already know a great deal about the game, which follows stranded InGen scientist Dr. Maya Joshi.
Joshi must evade and battle Isla Nublar’s deadly prehistoric inhabitants, using “stealth,” “ingenuity,” and “all the resources at your disposal” to survive (per the website). But even though she’s a new character, her journey will reunite fans will familiar locations and dinosaurs.
Players can expect to revisit well-known locations such as the iconic Jurassic Park gates and the Visitor Center, as well as several new ones as they explore “a fully-realized Isla Nublar.” So, unsurprisingly, they’ll also be reacquainted with familiar dinosaurs, too.
So far, we know that most of the dinosaurs from the 1993 film are back, too — Dilophosaurus, Velociraptor, Gallimimus, and Tyrannosaurus Rex. While Brachiosaurus, Parasaurolophus, and Triceratops don’t appear in the trailer or any of the marketing (so far), it would be bizarre if they’ve been omitted from a sequel that follows in such close succession.
It’s also hard to believe that Saber Interactive is going to such length to re-create Isla Nublar and add in several new areas hidden off-screen in the film (although they do appear in the 1990 novel it’s based on), but don’t intend on bringing back all the dinosaurs we know and love.
While “special dinosaurs” have been promised in addition to familiar ones, surely the developers will want to make sure that all the dinosaur species from Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi masterpiece have been given top priority over any newcomers. Enter the “sick Triceratops.”
Now that we know Dr. Maya Joshi will effectively be the fans’ eyes and ears in picking up where the 1993 tour left off, then it’s reasonable to assume that the upcoming game will tie up several loose ends, one of which is even revealed in the official trailer.
After the montage of gameplay footage at the end, we return to the cinematic part of the trailer to see that the freezer door in the Visitor Center kitchen is open, which means that the Velociraptor Lex and Tim locked inside has somehow managed to escape.
Check it out below, per Jurassic World YouTube:
With “a fully-realized Isla Nublar” on offer, we’ll probably also discover the bodies of characters killed in the film, such as game warden Robert Muldoon (Bob Peck), chief engineer Ray Arnold (Samuel L Jackson), computer programmer Dennis Nedry (Wayne Knight), and Donald Gennaro.
So then, the chances of also finding out what happened to the Triceratops are likely. The last time we saw the animal, it was crippled over in agony in its enclosure, however, anything could have happened in the 24 hours that have passed since the dinosaur breakout.
The odds are that the poor dinosaur, given its vulnerable condition, was eaten by a large predator — most likely the T-Rex. Or perhaps its health improved in that time, leading it to find shelter from the storm, and, in turn, from opportunist predators.
Related: ‘Jurassic Park’ Official Sequel: Everything We Know
Per the website, the description for “Jurassic Park: Survival” reads, “Return to Isla Nublar the day after the events of the beloved 1993 Jurassic Park film in an original adventure 65 million years in the making,” adding that fans of the sci-fi blockbuster will discover “a never-before-told story.”
Jurassic Park: Survival” will be released on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. There’s no release date for the game but it’s expected to arrive sometime in 2025.
Are you excited about “Jurassic Park: Survival”? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!