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Credit: Inside the MagicJurassic World Rebirth is shaping up to be one of the biggest and boldest entries in the long-running Jurassic franchise. But it also marks the beginning of “a new Jurassic era,” which means that we won’t be seeing the likes of Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill), Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), and Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) again.
Leading the all-new cast is MCU star Scarlett Johansson as “skilled covert operations specialist” Zora Bennett who’s hired to “secure DNA samples from the three most colossal creatures across land, sea and air” for pharmaceutical purposes.
But when her team, which includes Jonathan Bailey’s paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis and Rupert Friend’s big pharma rep Martin Kreb, intersects with a marooned family on a dinosaur-inhabited island, she discovers “a sinister, shocking discovery that’s been hidden from the world for decades”.
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Casting Johansson is clearly no accident. After Chris Pratt led the charge in the Jurassic World trilogy, the filmmakers obviously wanted to fill that space. Johansson’s resume speaks for itself but you only need to see the words “Marvel Cinematic Universe” to know that a) she can handle herself in an action-packed summer blockbuster and b) her name brings in the bucks.
However, in a recent exclusive interview with Empire Magazine, Jurassic World Rebirth director Gareth Edwards reveals that the film’s lead role was non-gender-specific.
After speaking specifically about Johansson’s character, Zora, saying, “She’s looking for meaning in her life after leaving the military, and this opportunity comes along where [after it] basically she’d never have to work again” and that “through that journey, she starts to question the ethical rights and wrongs of what they’re doing,” Edwards reveals that the role was not gender-specific in the script and therefore could have been played by anyone.
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Previously, Top Gun: Maverick and Twisters star Glen Powell revealed that he’d turned down a role in Jurassic World Rebirth. Reportedly, Johansson’s fellow MCU stars Chris Hemsworth and Chris Evans did the same. It’s unclear what role that was, but while it’s easy to assume it’s paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis, who’s being played by Bridgerton star Jonathan Bailey, it’s entirely possible they were approached to play the film’s main lead.
Either way, after battling aliens from outer space like her Jurassic predecessor Chris Pratt (who plays Peter Quill/Star-Lord in the MCU’s Guardians of the Galaxy movies) Scarlett Johansson is perfect for the job. And despite the fact the role was non-gender-specific, it will be refreshing to see a female take the reins in a Jurassic movie.
While the franchise is filled with strong female leads such as Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), Lex Murphy (Ariana Richards), and Dr. Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore), Bryce Dallas Howard’s Claire Dearing had to share the Jurassic World trilogy with Chris Pratt’s Owen Grady in equal parts.
“In the first-ever meeting I had with Universal and Steven Spielberg,” Edwards tells Empire, “Steven mentioned how he’d once met Scarlett and she’d been super-keen to be in a Jurassic film. As soon as I heard that I thought, ‘That’s the end of the meeting, right? Are you going to call her, or shall I?’ Thankfully, she was totally up for it.”
After her casting announcement, Johansson, 39, went on to admit that she’s a lifelong Jurassic Park fan and explained how she’s been trying to get into the Jurassic franchise for over 10 years. “I’ve been trying to get into this for the last, you know, over 10 years,” she revealed, adding, “and, you know, it’s like ‘Oh, you know, [I can] die in the first five minutes, I can get eaten by whatever, like, I’ll do the crap service, like, I’ll do anything for it!'”
Looking at Gareth Edwards’ track record with monster movies (specifically 2014’s Godzilla which starred Bryan Cranston in a lead role that was cut surprisingly short), here’s to hoping Johansson’s character isn’t actually killed off in the first five minutes. Nevertheless, she’s certainly going to be put through the wringer in the upcoming sequel.
Filming has spanned the jungles of Thailand and gigantic water horizon tanks in Malta, and some of the official stills that have been shared by Universal Pictures show her neck-deep in the long grass.
And that is never a good thing in a Jurassic movie.
When Can I Watch Jurassic World Rebirth?
Jurassic World Rebirth will be released in theaters worldwide on July 2, 2025.
Check out the film’s new logo below, per the official Jurassic World X (Twitter) account:
Jurassic World Rebirth. In theaters July 2025.
Jurassic World Rebirth. In theaters July 2025. pic.twitter.com/CLUdLQPPfO
— Jurassic World (@JurassicWorld) August 29, 2024
The film stars Scarlett Johansson (Avengers: Endgame), Jonathan Bailey (Bridgerton), Manuel Garcia-Rulfo (The Lincoln Lawyer), Rupert Friend (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Mahershala Ali (The Green Book), Luna Blaise (Manifest), David Iacono (Dead Boy Detectives), Audrina Miranda (Lopez vs Lopez), Philippine Velge (Station Eleven), Bechir Sylvain (BMF), and Ed Skrein (Deadpool).
Are you excited about Jurassic World Rebirth? Let us know in the comments down below!