The Real Reason ‘Jurassic World’ Exists Has Been Revealed

Jurassic World: Dominion (2022) will soon come stomping through movie theaters all around the world, although it’s already devouring tens of millions of dollars in 15 major markets prior to its global release on June 10. And there’s no doubt that this success will continue.

The sixth installment in the Jurassic Park franchise will serve as a culmination to the entire series so far, but it will also wrap up the Jurassic World Trilogy, a series that started in 2015 with Jurassic World (2015), which was directed by lifelong Jurassic Park fan Colin Trevorrow.

DeWanda Wise and Chris Pratt in 'Jurassic World Dominion' — Credit: Universal Studios

Now, in Sky TV documentary Jurassic Greatest Moments: Jurassic Park to Jurassic World (2022), which features the cast of Jurassic World: Dominion and celebrates scenes from the previous movies, the director reveals what inspired him to create the Jurassic World sequels.

Trevorrow has never held back on talking about his desire to make three films in the Jurassic World series, and even following the release of Jurassic World in 2015, which became a box office juggernaut, he confirmed that it would be the first of three movies in a new trilogy.

Maisie Lockwood Jurassic World Dominion — Credit: Universal Studios via YouTube

He has also previously explained that he has wanted to make Jurassic World: Dominion his “entire life”, and that he always knew “it would take two movies to get there”. And if you look at the two most recent entries in the series, the writing’s on the wall.

Jurassic World takes place 22 years after the original Jurassic Park (1993), and this time, the park is open, and has been built on top of the original park on Isla Nublar. However, with attendance at an all-time low, scientists have cooked up a genetic hybrid to wow guests.

Indominus Rex Jurassic World — Credit: Universal Studios

When the Indominus Rex escapes captivity, it wreaks havoc across the entire island, and it’s up to park operations manager Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) and animal behaviorist Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) to save the day, which will involve releasing other dinosaurs.

Trevorrow returned to co-write Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018), with JA Bayona directing. While it received mixed reviews from fans and critics, it was plain to see that the trilogy was at least following an intended route, unlike the widely hated Star Wars sequel trilogy.

chris-pratt-bryce-howard — Credit: Universal Studios

The film picks up four years after Jurassic World and finds Isla Nublar existing on a knife’s edge, with an imminent volcanic eruption threatening all life on the island. Claire and Owen head to the island to rescue as many dinosaurs as possible, but they realize they’re pawns in a conspiracy.

Expedition financier Eli Mills (Rafe Spall) plans to sell the dinosaurs in a black-market auction on the mainland, however, when a second dinosaur hybrid known as the Indoraptor escapes, all hell breaks loose, and consequently, the dinosaurs are released into the North American wilderness.

indoraptor jurassic world fallen kingdom — Credit: Universal Studios

For the past four years, the idea of dinosaurs living and thriving on mainland America has been teased in a number of ways. Short film Battle at Big Rock (2019), also directed by Trevorrow, offers a snapshot of the dangers the dinosaur populations presented.

More recently, in the run up to the release of Jurassic World: Dominion, we’ve seen a five-minute prologue to the film which continues the original Jurassic Park tyrannosaur’s epic story arc as she causes all sorts of problems in the Sierra Nevada Forest.

the prologue jurassic world dominion t-rex — Credit: Universal Studios

The upcoming film has also enjoyed some cross-promotion with the 2022 Winter Olympics, with prehistoric predators stalking skiers, skaters, and snowboarders, while raptors invaded ESPN offices where they stalk Canadian NBA team, the Toronto Raptors.

There’s also a brand-new park-builder game in the form of Jurassic World: Evolution 2 (2022), which is the first in the series to be set on the mainland. So, needless to say, dinosaurs were always headed for our world, despite many fans thinking of it as something of an afterthought.

Blue the Raptor in Jurassic World Dominion Olympics trailer — Credit: NBC (via Swrve YouTube)

In the decades since its release, The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) has been the target of much scrutiny from fans. While a beloved sequel in the Jurassic Park franchise, its third act, which sees a t-rex being let loose in San Diego, leaves a sour taste in fans’ mouths.

However, the truth is that the idea of dinosaurs causing problems on the mainland was first teased in the original 1990 bestseller “Jurassic Park” by the late author Michael Crichton, despite there being many differences between the book and the original 1993 film.

t-rex the lost world jurassic park — Credit: Universal Studios

Whether or not Trevorrow has taken inspiration from these pages is unknown, but in the documentary Jurassic Greatest Moments: Jurassic Park to Jurassic World, the director reveals which Jurassic Park scene inspired him to create Jurassic World and its sequels.

“The most iconic image, probably for me, is the end of the first movie, when the t-rex is roaring and the banner that says ‘When Dinosaurs Rules the Earth’ is billowing down in front of her,” the director admits. “That was something that inspired the biggest idea of the franchise, which is, well, what if it’s possible that if dinosaurs were to return, that we would be the ones to go extinct, and they’re the ones who get to stick around?”

jurassic park t rex — Credit: Universal Studios

It sounds like the idea of dinosaurs populating the earth planted a seed in the director’s mind, and now, here we are, with Jurassic World: Dominion giving us just that. The Jurassic World movies have also continued with the overarching science fiction theme of ‘What if…?’

“All of the directors who’ve made Jurassic films,” the director says, “it’s a very consistent set of values, that we just want to go from idea to idea to idea. I think that’s one of the reasons why they work, because they’re so constantly pushing your imagination forward, and putting you in a situation and saying ‘What if? What if it got this bad, what if it got this bad?’ So that’s what we try to do with every second, is no matter what’s happening, how could this get worse? And then have that moment surprise you, and the minute you process it, have it get more worse.”

Mosasaurus Jurassic World: Dominion — Credit: Universal Studios via YouTube

We also know that the Jurassic World: Dominion director always intended to take this direction with the Jurassic World Trilogy, which is probably why he chose to re-open the park in the first place. In order to take the park out of the equation, he first had to bring it back.

In doing so, Trevorrow gave fans what they had long wanted — to see the park fully operational, just as John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) had dreamed. But in order to get from A to B, he also had to destroy it, and that’s where the Indominus Rex came in, a much useful plot device.

Pyroraptor Jurassic World: Dominion — Credit: Universal Studios via YouTube

The same goes for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, but it wasn’t enough to just have the park destroyed as seen in the previous film — this time, the filmmakers had to go all out and destroy the island itself, by means of getting the dinosaurs onto the mainland.

And to make it so that the dinosaurs are consequently released into the wild, that’s where a dinosaur hybrid came in useful for a second — and probably final — time. Now, the dinosaurs are exactly where Trevorrow has wanted them all along — all over North America.

Blue Jurassic World: Dominion — Credit: Universal Studios via YouTube

The director even teased this using a map he shared via Twitter, which shows where all the dinosaur populations are popping up across the country. But it isn’t just North America that has dinosaur problems — as seen in the official Jurassic World: Dominion trailer, it’s everywhere.

And it’s this that really hammers home the idea of a “Jurassic World” — it was never just meant to be a theme park. But while Trevorrow appears to have his beginning, middle, and end where the trilogy is concerned, how will Jurassic World: Dominion actually wrap things up?

Jurassic World Dominion Map — Credit: Universal Studios via Twitter

Jurassic World: Dominion releases in theaters on June 10.

It stars Bryce Dallas Howard (Claire Dearing), Chris Pratt (Owen Grady), Isabella Sermon (Maisie Lockwood), Omar Sy (Barry Sembène), and BD Wong (Henry Wu), Campbell Scott (Lewis Dodgson), DeWanda Sykes (Kayla), Jeff Goldblum (Dr. Ian Malcolm), Sam Neill (Dr. Alan Grant), and Laura Dern (Dr. Ellie Sattler).