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Credit: Universal PicturesAs fans await the first trailer for Jurassic World Rebirth, one of four upcoming Jurassic sequels, the film’s screenwriter has made a startling revelation about the film’s canonicity.
For over three decades, the Jurassic Park franchise has captivated audiences with its thrilling mix of groundbreaking effects, awe-inspiring dinosaurs, and cautionary tales about humanity’s hubris.
Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park (1993) set the standard for cinematic blockbusters, while Colin Trevorrow’s Jurassic World trilogy reignited the franchise with exciting new adventures. Now, Jurassic World Rebirth, directed by Gareth Edwards (2014’s Godzilla, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), promises to take the series in a bold, new direction.
Screenwriter David Koepp (Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Jurassic Park) and producers Frank Marshall and Patrick Crowley (the Jurassic World trilogy), along with executive producer Steven Spielberg (director of the first two films and EP on the last four), are once again bringing dinosaurs to life, with Scarlett Johansson (Avengers: Endgame), Jonathan Bailey (Bridgerton), and Mahershala Ali (The Green Book) leading an all-new cast.
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But as fans gear up for the film’s release, many are wondering if it will address the controversial legacy of its predecessor, Jurassic World Dominion (2022). Widely criticized for its messy plot and lack of focus on dinosaurs on the mainland (as promised in all the marketing), Dominion left many fans disappointed.
But recent comments from David Koepp confirm whether or not Rebirth will completely ignore the 2022 film or fully embrace it.
In a recent interview with The Wrap, Koepp outlined his “Nine Commandments” for the new film, based on the Nine Commandments the American animator Chuck Jones made for the Road Runner shorts. While Koepp kept six of them a secret, he revealed the first three, with the first being around the canonicity of previous Jurassic films.
“Number one was the events of the previous six movies cannot be denied or contradicted, because I hate a retcon,” he revealed. While there will be many fans who share the screenwriter’s sentiment about sequels that ignore previous films (like the latest Halloween trilogy), others will be disappointed to hear that Dominion hasn’t been wiped from canon.
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But the first clue that Rebirth isn’t going to completely ignore the 2022 sequel came when Universal Pictures shared the official synopsis for the film, which states, “Five years after the events of Jurassic World Dominion, the planet’s ecology has proven largely inhospitable to dinosaurs,” adding, “Those remaining exist in isolated equatorial environments with climates resembling the one in which they once thrived.”
While it sounds like Rebirth is, in its own way, “undoing” certain storytelling aspects of previous films like Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) and Jurassic World Dominion, namely the unleashing and establishing of dinosaurs around the world, the filmmakers clearly aren’t prepared to ignore those films, no matter how divisive they were.
Koepp’s second and third rules? All science must be real” and “humor is oxygen,” he said, two key ingredients that made the original Jurassic Park a bona fide classic. Previously, Koepp said that the new film will also mirror the original in tone.
Related: ‘Jurassic Park’ Releasing Official Never-Before-Seen Version of 1993 Film
“The idea of starting afresh, you don’t often get that chance where they give you very few guidelines, except there must be dinosaurs in it,” Koepp added in his interview with The Wrap.
“Writing those first two movies were some of my favorite experiences in my career so far. The combination of grand adventure and real science is right up my alley. And it was fun to be able to decide on a new tone, because every three movies seems like a good time to change tone and characters in a franchise. It was great to be able to work solely with Steven [Spielberg] and make up a story and think of all new characters and all in a different tone.”
Jurassic World Rebirth stars Scarlett Johansson as Zora Bennett, a covert operations expert tasked with leading a high-stakes mission to recover genetic material from three colossal dinosaurs within the newly established equatorial biosphere.
However, when her team encounters a civilian family whose boat was capsized by aquatic dinosaurs, they become stranded on an isolated island together, where they uncover a “sinister, shocking discovery” that has remained hidden from the world for decades.
When Can You Watch Jurassic World Rebirth in Theaters?
Fans can mark their calendars for July 2, 2025, when Jurassic World Rebirth debuts in theaters worldwide.
The film boasts a star-studded cast, including 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 glad that Jurassic World Dominion is still canon, or would you rather the new film retcons it entirely? Let us know in the comments below!