Jurassic World Rebirth (2025) was supposed to launch a new era for the franchise, but the future of its sequel has already become uncertain following a major creative shake-up.
Gareth Edwards, who directed Rebirth, will no longer be involved with the upcoming sequel.
According to Deadline, Edwards has left the project due to “creative differences,” with the filmmaker instead turning his attention toward other original projects. Universal confirmed the exit in a statement, saying, “We had an incredible experience working with Gareth on Jurassic World Rebirth.”
The studio is now searching for a new director, and the sequel is reportedly still moving ahead and is expected to begin shooting in 2027. Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey, and Mahershala Ali are all expected to reprise their roles.
But the departure comes at an awkward time for the franchise. Rebirth was marketed as the beginning of “a new Jurassic era,” but the movie also walked back one of the biggest developments from Jurassic World Dominion (2022), which expanded upon the premise of dinosaurs living around the world.
Instead, Rebirth restricted the dinosaurs to remote locations, with writer David Koepp later admitting to The Hollywood Reporter that he “didn’t have a single idea about where to go” with the global dinosaur storyline.
Interestingly, though, Universal already has a Jurassic project that demonstrates how easily the franchise could reset its clock.
Related: ‘Jurassic Park' Could Follow the ‘Halloween' Franchise After ‘Rebirth' Disaster
Jurassic Park: Survival Returns to 1993
The upcoming first-person action-adventure game Jurassic Park: Survival takes place just one day after the events of Steven Spielberg's original Jurassic Park (1993).
Players control InGen scientist Dr. Maya Joshi, who becomes stranded on Isla Nublar following the events of the original movie.
Rather than dealing with Dominion, Rebirth, or decades of increasingly complicated continuity, the game returns to the original park and tells a completely new story within that setting.
Universal could take a similar approach with the movies. Instead of forcing another sequel to continue a storyline that has already struggled to establish where the dinosaurs belong, the studio could use Edwards' departure as an opportunity to step away from the current continuity and begin anew.
Jurassic Park: Survival will be released on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, although it currently has no release date.
Would you like to see Universal use this opportunity to completely reset the Jurassic Park movies? Let us know in the comments below!
