The Jurassic Park franchise has at least more installment in store for us. Jurassic World 3, officially titled Jurassic World: Dominion, is currently in the works and will round out the current trilogy that kicked off in 2015. While many details remain mysterious about the sequel, what we know for sure is it will be bringing in many characters from throughout the history of the series. With that in mind, there are several figures we haven’t seen in some time that could make a fresh appearance, alongside some of these other returning favorites.
Details regarding the movie’s plot are, at present, slim. We know it will feature dinosaurs out in the real world, given what we saw at the end of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, as well as the live-action short Battle at Big Rock. Plus, Colin Trevorrow, who directed Jurassic World, is returning to the helm to finish what he started. Perhaps most importantly, Chris Pratt said that it feels like Avengers: Endgame, with “everybody” in it.
Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard will be returning as Owen Grady and Claire Dearing. The biggest attraction here is that Sam Neil, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum are all reuniting in Jurassic World 3 as Alan Grant, Ellie Sattler and Ian Malcolm for the first time since the original Jurassic Park. What other characters will director Colin Trevorrow bring into the fold? Here are a few suggestions.
Tim Murphy
This one feels like an absolute no-brainer for longtime fans. Tim first appeared in Jurassic Park as the grandson of Richard Hammond. Actor Joseph Mazzello has only reprised the role once, very briefly, in 1997’s The Lost World. Since Chris Pratt previously likened this to Avengers: Endgame, but for the Jurassic Park series, it would feel wrong not to see Tim back as an adult. How would he react to dinosaurs out in the real world? Did he abandon his love of these prehistoric creatures? Just imagine seeing Tim and Alan reunited. This has to happen.
Lex Murphy
It would seem a sin to bring back Tim and not also have his sister Lex return as well. Lex, similarly, was brought to her grandfather’s dinosaur amusement park for an early test run, with disastrous results. Undoubtedly, Lex would have strong thoughts about dinosaurs and humans being forced to co-exist. Much like Tim, Ariana Richards only came back for a tiny part in The Lost World. If this really is the final entry in the series, we need some more screen time with Lex.
Sarah Harding
We first met Sarah Harding in The Lost World. She was a scientist and an adventurer who happened to be dating Ian Malcolm at the time, when Hammond convinced her to head out on a dicey expedition to Isla Sorna, aka Site B. Played by Julianne Moore, we haven’t seen or heard from the character since she helped stop the T-rex rampage in San Diego. Is she still together with Ian? Wouldn’t she have strong feelings about what happened to these creatures in the years since 1997? Not only that, but Moore is a world-class actress and getting her back on board couldn’t possibly hurt matters.
Nick Van Owen
In a perfect world, Pete Postlethwaite would still be with us and we could check back in with big game hunter Roland Tembo, who led InGen’s ill-fated expedition on Site B in The Lost World. Sadly, Postlethwaite passed away in 2011 and it would feel wrong to recast the role. So, Nick Van Owen seems like the next best thing to help tie Jurassic World: Dominion to the second entry in the franchise. Played by Vince Vaughn, Nick was a photographer who also happened to be an environmentalist. He aided Hammond’s team in dismantling InGen’s plans to take dinosaurs off of Isla Sorna. Since Site B’s fate truly hasn’t been explored in the sequels, it might make sense to bridge that gap now, and Nick could logically come into play if that does happen.
Billy Brennan
Jurassic Park III is not what one would call a beloved sequel. Not by a long shot. It actually killed the franchise for 14 years. But it’s part of the events that led us to here and bringing in a character or two from this movie could be a way to heal old wounds. Namely, Alessandro Nivola’s Billy Brennan, Alan’s friend and paleontology assistant who got dragged into a nightmarish scenario on Isla Sorna. Did Billy and Alan patch things up after the whole raptor egg incident? Perhaps he is working with Dr. Grant when the events that bring him back to the fold in Dominion are put into motion? Either way, it would feel appropriate to have some tie to this particular sequel, and I doubt many fans care what the Kirbys are up to. No disrespect to Tea Leoni and William H. Macy.
Charlie
We already know that Ellie Sattler is coming back. When last we saw her in Jurassic Park III, she had a young son named Charlie, played by Blake Michael Bryan. With Ellie getting mixed up with these dinosaurs once again, it would be a nice callback to bring her son into the fold in a meaningful way as well. Is he living in his mom’s shadow? Did he also take a liking to dinosaurs in his adulthood? This is, in many ways, a blank canvas to paint a potentially fascinating character on and could represent a rich storytelling opportunity.
Dodgson
Last, but most certainly not least, we’ve got Dodgson here. We met Dodgson in a key scene in Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park as the man pulling the corporate strings, paying Nedry to steal Hammond’s precious dino DNA for another rival company looking to get in on the prehistoric theme park business as well. Unfortunately, Nedry died rather gruesomely and the famed Barbasol can was never seen again. It would be a great way to bring that thread full circle by having Dodgson come back. There is a major caveat to this one though. Actor Cameron Thor, who originally played the character, was sentenced to six years in prison in 2013 for sexually assaulting a minor. Unlike Roland Trembo, given the circumstances, recasting the part, should the character appear, would be the right call to make in this situation.
Jurassic World: Dominion is set to hit theaters on June 11, 2021, from Universal Pictures.
