The upcoming third film in the Jurassic World series looks all set to bring back the leads of the original Jurassic Park, if the threequel’s star Bryce Dallas Howard is to be believed.
Will the original #JurassicPark characters come back to help in #JurassicWorld3? If only @BryceDHoward could kind of, maybe, sort of comment on it ? pic.twitter.com/ad0ST4ENmt
— MTV NEWS (@MTVNEWS) June 1, 2019
Speaking at the US premiere of Rocketman, in which she plays Elton John’s mother, Howard could barely contain her excitement at the prospect of working with “the OG Jurassic Park people” in the Jurassic World sequel.
Howard was asked by MTV News’ Josh Horowitz if she was looking forward to the prospect of sharing scenes with “Sam and Laura and Jeff”.
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The Black Mirror and The Help actress – who plays Claire Dearing in the Jurassic World franchise – replied: “Yes, very much so”.
The latest film in the Jurassic World trilogy, 2018’s Fallen Kingdom, featured a cameo from Jeff Goldblum, reprising his role as Dr Ian Malcolm after last appearing in the franchise in 1997’s The Lost World.
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Rumours that the as-yet-untitled Jurassic World 3 would also bring Sam Neill and Laura Dern back into the fray, however, appear to have now been confirmed by Howard.
Absent from the Jurassic series since 2001, Neill and Dern played paleontologist Dr Alan Grant and paleobotanist Dr Ellie Sattler, respectively, in Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III.
Jurassic World 3, which is currently set for release on June 11, 2021, is to be directed by Colin Trevorrow and will reunite Howard with Chris Pratt, who plays franchise hero Owen Grady.
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It will mark Trevorrow’s return to the franchise after the reins on Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom were taken by Spanish filmmaker JA Bayona.
Goldblum, 66, Neill, 71, and Dern, 52, have all been keeping busy with some high-profile projects of late.
Goldblum and Neill both recently appeared in Thor: Ragnarok, while The Last Jedi star Dern will soon reprise her Golden Globe-winning role in the second season of HBO’s Big Little Lies.
Read on for a more in-depth look at what the original Jurassic Park cast have been up to lately.
1. Sam Neill – Dr. Alan Grant
Dr. Alan Grant was the fedora-wearing protagonist of Jurassic Park. He battled to survive on Isla Nubar in the face of a giant T-Rex and several cunning raptors.
The character of Alan Grant is probably Sam Neill’s best-known acting role – so what has Neill been doing since he first fled the island on that helicopter?
Neill missed out on The Lost World sequel but reprised his role in 2001 with Jurassic Park III.
Away from dinosaurs, the actor has kept himself very busy and even starred in the critically-acclaimed film The Piano.
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The New Zealander has also appeared in other big franchises – in 2017 he popped up in Thor: Ragnarok as one of the Odin actors, while the year before that he starred in the hit film Hunt for the Wilderpeople as Uncle Hec.
So what’s next on the cards for Neill? At the age of 71, he’s showing no signs of slowing down, and currently has a film entitled Blackbird in the works, which will also feature Kate Winslet and Susan Sarandon.
2. Laura Dern – Dr. Ellie Sattler
Laura Dern portrayed the bad-ass grad student Dr. Ellie Sattler.
Sattler was fascinated with the scientific discoveries made by John Hamilton’s team and it took her a while to realise the full danger that Jurassic Park represented. Eventually she fell for Dr. Grant as they bonded in the face of almost certain death at the hands of some seriously hungry dinosaurs.
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Dern has had a hugely successful career outside of Jurassic Park – when she joined the cast she had already been celebrated for her roles in Blue Velvet (1986) and Wild At Heart (1990).
Since then she has appeared in a number of popular TV and film projects including Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) and F is for Family. Dern also starred in the third Jurassic Park film alongside Sam Neill.
Dern’s personal life has been a little rockier – she divorced from her musician husband Ben Harper in 2013 after eight years of marriage.
In the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, the actress revealed that she had been sexually assaulted at the age of 14.
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3. Ariana Richards – Lex Murphy
All Lex Murphy wanted to do was visit her granddad…
Instead she ended up being terrorised on Isla Nubar when the security systems are destroyed and velociraptors run free. Ariana Richards wasn’t exactly the best actress in the world but little kids around the world were still rooting for Lex and her brother Tim to escape from the dinosaurs.
Richards returned for the Lost World sequel in 1997. However, she’s been fairly quiet on the acting front after starring in a string of television shows in the late 90s.
Apparently the former child actor went off to study art in college and decided to focus on a career in graphic art. It seems as though she’s found a lot of success as an artist…
In 2005, Richards won first place in the National Professional Oil Painting Competition for her painting Lady of the Dahlias.
The former actress is now 39 years old and currently lives in Salem, Oregon.
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4. Joseph Mazzello – Tim Murphy
Joseph Mazzello spent most of the film looking scared as Tim Murphy.
And we can’t really blame him – he got electrocuted after hopping a giant fence and nearly got eaten by a raptor in the park kitchens. Mazzello was convincing as the nerdy kid who managed to work out the park’s security systems and help save the day.
1993 was a busy year for Mazzello – as well as appearing in Jurassic Park, the young actor also starred in Anthony Hopkins’ movie Shadowlands. He made a cameo in Jurassic Park: The Lost World alongside his on-screen sister.
The child actor has had a hugely successful career since escaping from dinosaurs – he starred in The Pacific (2010) and The Social Network (2010) as Dustin Moskovitz, as well as G.I. Joe – Retaliation (2013).
Mazzello has also recently appeared in a hugely successful music biopic that you might have heard of – Bohemian Rhapsody (2018).
Mazzello played the role of bass player John Deacon.
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5. Jeff Goldblum – Dr. Ian Malcolm
Jeff Goldblum became an unlikely sex symbol as the handsome-but-clever Dr. Ian Malcolm.
Malcolm was a mathematician and chaos theorist who came to explore the island and see how much of a risk it posed to the public. Viewers were glad to have Malcolm on board, as he provided a lot of the film’s comic relief with his swaggering and charismatic persona.
Goldblum had already enjoyed plenty of success as an actor with roles in movies such as The Big Chill and The Fly in the mid 80s. Since then he’s appeared in a string of different film and TV projects including The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), and Thor: Ragnarok (2017).
Goldblum also had a brief role in the most recent Jurassic Park movie. He was previously nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film for his directing work on Little Surprises (1996).
Goldblum’s personal life has taken an upward turn as well – after Geena Davis in 1990, he married Olympic gymnast Emilie Livingston in 2014. The couple have two sons together.
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6. Richard Attenborough – John Hamilton
Richard Attenborough was the big star of Jurassic Park.
He added a bit of class to proceedings with his reputation as an Oscar-winning film director. Attenborough appeared in the movie as John Hamilton, the billionaire industrialist whose bioengineering dream shattered spectacularly before his eyes.
Attenborough starred and directed in a few other projects after Jurassic Park but largely wound down his creative pursuits.
In 2008, the actor suffered a stroke and his brother David confirmed that the acclaimed director would no longer be starring in any films as he was now confined to a wheelchair.
Attenborough and his wife Sheila Sim eventually moved into a nursing home they had previously helped to sponsor after accepting that they both needed full-time care.
The veteran actor and director passed away on 24th August, 2014 in London.
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7. Wayne Knight – Dennis Nedry
Wayne Knight played the dodgy computer programmer Dennis Nedry.
Nedry has a lot of answer for in the film, but he meets a grisly fate at the hands of some terrifying mini dinosaurs that like the taste of nefarious computer geeks. Fans of the movie will never forget the moment Nedry tries to escape and that creepy-looking dino screams in his face!
Knight was at the height of his Seinfeld fame when he starred in the dino-themed Spielberg blockbuster. He would go on to appear as Newman in the hit US comedy until its end in 1998.
Knight is also well-known as the ‘sweating guy’ who appears in Basic Instinct‘s notorious interrogation scene. Since then, the actor has done voiceover work in movies such as Tarzan (1999) and Bee Movie (2007).
Knight has cropped up in a number of Seinfeld ‘reunions’, including an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm and a Superbowl Ad in 2014.
He lives with his second wife Clare de Chenu and their son.
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8. Martin Ferrero – Donald Gennaro
Donald Gennaro was the lawyer guy who meets an untimely end in the movie.
Jurassic Park fans probably know him as ‘the one who dies on the toilet’ – when a giant Tyrannosaurus Rex lifts the roof of his bathroom stall and gobbles him up in one go. Eek!
Gennaro has previously had roles in 80s hits such as Miami Vice and Planes, Trains and Automobiles, but since his appearance on Isla Nubar, the actor has had a quiet career.
His last known credited film appearance was in Air Bud 3 and his last ever credited acting job was in a College Humor internet short, where he reprised his role as Gennaro.
It looks as though the 71-year-old has almost completely retired from acting.
However, he did briefly appear in an episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! in a skit of Jurassic Park.
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9. B.D. Wong – Dr Henry Wu
Remember Dr Henry Wu? He was one of the enthusiastic scientists working on the epic developments at Isla Nubar…and he ended up having a very interesting return to the Jurassic Park franchise in 2018.
Geneticist Henry Wu made a return to the series as the fourth film’s main villain – he had let the power of bioengineering go to his head and wanted to make even bigger and better dinosaurs to wreak havoc on Mother Nature.
B.D. Wong’s acting career has always been solid and he has played Dr. George Huang on Law & Order for several years.
Wong also appeared in the huge Netflix hit Bird Box in 2018.
He currently lives in New York with his partner of eight years, Richert Schnorr.
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10. Samuel L. Jackson – Ray Arnold
And last but certainly not least…Ray Arnold. Arnold was the park’s chief engineer but he seemed to spend most of his time smoking cigarettes and looking vaguely worried about what was happening to the park.
Although Jackson entered the acting profession relatively late in life, he is currently the highest-grossing actor of all-time, a title that Jurassic Park helped him to gain.
He has starred in too many hits to list here, from Pulp Fiction (1994) to the Avengers franchise.
He’s still going strong at the age of 70 years old and is slated to appear in a remake of The Last Dragon.