Credit: Universal PicturesThe Jurassic franchise is expanding with the upcoming first-person action-adventure game “Jurassic Park: Survival”, set 24 hours after the events of Steven Spielberg’s 1993 film.
The game introduces a new character, Dr. Maya Joshi, who we now know is played by British actor Payal Mistry, as revealed in a brand-new behind-the-scenes video. Watch it below:
With commentary from several key names at Universal and developer Saber Interactive, the video shows Joshi navigating the chaos of Isla Nublar while giving fans a closer look at gameplay mechanics and how they’ll interact with both the dinosaurs and the environment, which spans familiar locations and never-before-seen areas only hinted at on-screen.
The idea was to re-create the world established in the 1993 film in meticulous detail, and it certainly looks like “Jurassic Park: Survival” has been spared no expense.
Never-Before-Seen Areas of Jurassic Park
“There’s lots of facilities, there’s lots of buildings, there’s lots of attractions that are under construction, there’s a hotel under construction,” Executive Producer at Universal Products & Experiences John Melchior reveals. “So fans are going to see things and landmarks that they only wish they saw; some elements from the film that were talked about but were never actually conceived in the film.”
As for Joshi, she has also been designed with the aesthetic of Spielberg’s classic in mind, which helped to make Jurassic Park (1993) an enduring classic. Her bright yellow shirt is instantly reminiscent of Dennis Nedry’s iconic anorak of the same color (and other InGen workers’ hard-hats), visually tying her to the look and feel while at the same time giving her her own unique identity.
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Though it was mostly cinematic with just a few snippets of gameplay footage at the end, the initial trailer that premiered at the Game Awards in December 2023 already gave fans a good idea about what to expect in terms of character — we’ve known from the offset that Joshi is an InGen scientist who, for reasons yet to be revealed, was unable to evacuate Isla Nublar.
However, the new BTS video confirms that Joshi is as much an extension of the original film as the game itself, and not just a throwaway character. Watch the official trailer below:
How Does Dr. Maya Joshi Fit Into Jurassic Park?
“The actual journey, the arc of Maya, it’s incredible,” Mistry says in the new video. “She was personally recruited by Dr. Henry Wu to become an InGen scientist, to work at the park. [At] the start of Maya’s journey, she’s unable to escape Isla Nublar.”
“I really relate to Maya in lots of different ways. She’s incredibly passionate and adventurous. I think she takes risks, she steps outside of her comfort zone,” she continues.
“I feel like I’m learning a lot about myself, to be honest. She’s very inspiring, and she has a lot of admirable traits. I think I’m standing on the shoulders of some of the coolest female characters in cinema history. It’s incredible.”
Jurassic Park (1993) Set the Standard for Joshi
Craig Sherman, Head of Narrative at Saber Interactive, explains how the characters from the original 1993 classic, such as Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), Alan Grant (Sam Neill), and Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), were the standard for creating Joshi. “So every one of the characters in that film is indelible and this is the bar that we’re shooting for,” he says.
“These characters need to be as specific, distinct, colorful as the characters in the film. And Maya is the biggest example of this.”
It’s unlikely you’ll spot her anywhere in the background of Jurassic Park, though, as she’s a newly developed character. But, technically speaking, she does now exist somewhere off screen in that original 1993 film, in the same way all those never-before-seen locations we’ll discover in the game do. Think of her as Ahsoka Tano from Star Wars; the Togruta Jedi who we now know was operating in the background of the last two entries in the prequel trilogy, despite having not been developed until three years after those films concluded.
And who knows — we may see Dr. Maya Joshi appear in a future big-screen project, which would ideally take place during the original Jurassic Park era, like the game.
There’s no release date for “Jurassic Park: Survival”.
Are you excited about the new game? Do you think you’ve already spotted Maya Joshi somewhere in the background in the original 1993 film? Let us know if you have!