EIGHTEEN new DINOSAURS? Ten facts you need to know about Jurassic World: Dominion

The Jurassic franchise is still alive and showing no signs of slowing down. Steven Spielberg's 1993 'Jurassic Park' wowed the crowd and although two subsequent sequels failed to capture the same magic of the first, 2015's 'Jurassic World' continued the story with new characters, revitalizing the franchise. 'Jurassic World: Dominion' is now next and promises to be the biggest Jurassic movie to date. Here are 10 facts you need to know about the film.

The upcoming sequel is set to be a culmination of every film franchise’s installment so far, taking place four years after the events of the last film, ‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’, in which several dinosaurs were released into the wild in North America.

As a kind of culmination of the ‘Jurassic World’ trilogy, ‘Dominion’ brings together the cast of ‘World’ with the cast of ‘Jurassic Park’. That said, Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Justice Smith, Daniela Pineda, and Omar Sy return from ‘World’, while Laura Dern, Sam Neil, and Jeff Goldblum reprise their iconic ‘Jurassic’ roles. This new cast also features BD Wong, DeWanda Wise, Mamoudou Athie, Scott Haze, and Campbell Scott.

‘Jurassic World: Dominion’ is described as a “bold, timely and breathtaking new adventure that spans the globe.” Following the events of ‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’, dinosaurs are now living and hunting alongside humans (yes, humans), all around the world. According to Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment, “this fragile balance will reshape the future and determine, once and for all, whether human beings are to remain the apex predators on a planet they now share with history’s most fearsome creatures.”

It's still unclear who will play the big guy in the new instalment of 'Jurassic World: Dominion', but there are a few clues. In 2020, Collider announced that actor Campbell Scott had joined the cast to play Lewis Dodgson, a character from Michael Crichton's original novel. According to Colin Trevorrow, he will now not only be the villain (one of several), but "will be identical to the novels".

Trevorrow revealed that there will be MORE than eighteen new dinosaurs. And that’s not all. During the film's promotion, he also said they will be more terrifying and realistic than ever before. In an interview with Empire, the director said that the realm of Earth's new predators will be "terrifying” and will also include a disturbing monstrosity: the Giganotosaurus, or Giga, as it is named in the film. He said: "I wanted something that felt like the Joker. He just wants to watch the world burn.”

Since both 'Jurassic World' and 'Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom' have used hybrid dinosaurs as their partial antagonists, fans have been wondering how the Indominus Rex and Indoraptor creations will exceed expectations. Thankfully, there will be no hybrid dinosaurs in 'Jurassic World: Dominion', per Colin Trevorrow's wishes to get back to basics. Not only does this mean that the audience will not be given the chance to get tired of hybrid dinosaurs, but it also perfectly fits with the ending in which all of the "pure" dinosaurs were let into the wild.

InGen's chief geneticist who enabled John Hammond to clone the dinosaurs in 'Jurassic Park' has been on the rise since 1993. Still played by BD Wong in 'Jurassic World', he is now the head of a team responsible for creating new hybrid specimens to renew public interest. A risky project that will lead to the birth of the Indominus Rex.

The animated Netflix series 'Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous' has continued with the 'Jurassic World' story on the small screen, taking place during the events of the first two movies. Therefore, according to Trevorrow there will be ties between both projects and they’ll be more evident in future seasons of the Netflix series. He said: “It does [connect] a bit, but in a way that ... It won't make 'Camp Cretaceous' seem like its only purpose was to set this thing up, because those characters, I think they're great. I think the writer's done an amazing job. What may be coming in the future of 'Camp Cretaceous' will tie in a bit more directly to something in 'Dominion'.”

From everything we’ve seen and heard about 'Jurassic World: Dominion', it’s easy to see how someone could get emotional about the movie and its place in the franchise. It appears that this was the case for Steven Spielberg, who became particularly emotional during one scene. Colin Trevorrow told Empire in December 2021: "The moment everybody shows up for the first time together, they’re all packed into a Jeep. And I took a picture of it and I sent it to Steven [Spielberg]. He got very emotional. I don’t think even he was prepared for how moving it would be to see all of those characters that he loves, and people that he loves, looking incredible and on an adventure together". It’s not surprising at all that the director would have such a response considering he helped kickstart the franchise 30 years ago and has remained a major player behind the scenes throughout the production of all subsequent installments.

There’s certainly a sense of 'Jurassic World: Dominion' being the end of this dinosaur era, as Trevorrow previously told EW the movie serves as a climax of all six films: "To me, 'Dominion' is a culmination of one story that's been told. When you got to the end of the 'Jurassic Park' trilogy, it may not have been as clear in what the complete story of those three movies was because they were a bit more episodic in the way that they were approached. But this trilogy is not that way. It's very much a serialized story. What was important for me was, when you watch 'Dominion', you really feel like you are learning how much of a story that first set of movies was and how everything that happened in those movies actually informs what ultimately is able to happen in this. If kids who are born today are going to be presented with six 'Jurassic Park' movies — you hope the parents will buy them the box set — you hope they are going to get to feel like they watch one long story." However, producer Frank Marshall previously confirmed to Collider that 'Jurassic World: Dominion' is far from being the end of the franchise, answering a solid “no” when he was asked if this was the end of the road and adding that it’s hopefully “the start of a new era.”