Smoldering husks of trilogies can’t even cool off these days before studios announce a new chapter. The money train keeps a-chugging. When your last three movies have all surpassed the $1 billion mark, it’s hard to rest on your laurels. Such is the case for Universal’s explicably popular Jurassic World franchise, which “wrapped up” three years ago with Jurassic World Dominion. Perfect time to announce a refresh in the form of Jurassic World Rebirth, hitting cinemas July 2025. This is the blockbuster equivalent of Friday the 13th. In the ’80s, Part V: A New Beginning came out a mere 11 months after Part IV: The Final Chapter.
Rogue One‘s Gareth Edwards will direct the film. He knows a thing or two about giant stuff, having cut his teeth on his indie breakout Monsters and then Legendary’s Godzilla. Original Jurassic Park screenwriter David Koepp has written the screenplay for Jurassic World Rebirth. The movie will costar Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, and Jonathan Bailey.
Five years after the events of Jurassic World Dominion, the planet’s ecology has proven largely inhospitable to dinosaurs. Those remaining exist in isolated equatorial environments with climates resembling the one in which they once thrived. The three most colossal creatures within that tropical biosphere hold the key to a drug that will bring miraculous life-saving benefits to humankind.
Academy Award® nominee Johansson plays skilled covert operations expert Zora Bennett, contracted to lead a skilled team on a top-secret mission to secure genetic material from the world’s three most massive dinosaurs. When Zora’s operation intersects with a civilian family whose boating expedition was capsized by marauding aquatic dinos, they all find themselves stranded on an island where they come face-to-face with a sinister, shocking discovery that’s been hidden from the world for decades.
Ali is Duncan Kincaid, Zora’s most trusted team leader; Emmy nominee and Olivier Award winner Jonathan Bailey (Wicked, Bridgerton) plays paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis; Emmy nominee Rupert Friend (Homeland, Obi-Wan Kenobi) appears as Big Pharma representative Martin Krebs and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo (The Lincoln Lawyer, Murder on the Orient Express) plays Reuben Delgado, the father of the shipwrecked civilian family.
The cast includes Luna Blaise (Manifest), David Iacono (The Summer I Turned Pretty) and Audrina Miranda (Lopez vs. Lopez) as Reuben’s family. The film also features, as members of Zora and Krebs’ crews, Philippine Velge (Station Eleven), Bechir Sylvain (BMF) and Ed Skrein (Deadpool).
Pretty wild Jurassic World Rebirth is only 11 months from release at this point, but that’s Hollywood for ya! I wasn’t a fan of any of the three previous Jurassic World movies, but the dino action still proved exciting for people around the world. Just shows to a go ya, the terrible thunderlizards will never go extinct.
Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.