Universal and Saber Interactive may have quietly revealed the return of one of the original Jurassic Park‘s most important human characters — and if fans are seeing what they think they're seeing, Jurassic Park: Survival could finally fill in one of the franchise's oldest missing pieces.
The upcoming first-person action-adventure video game, which is being developed by Saber Interactive, was first unveiled during The Game Awards in December 2023, with the reveal trailer introducing players to protagonist Dr. Maya Joshi as she attempts to survive on Isla Nublar following the events of Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park (1993).
Although the game still doesn't have a release date, new details have continued to emerge. In July 2024, IGN published an exclusive Q&A with the developers focusing on gameplay, while last summer saw Universal and Saber release a five-minute behind-the-scenes featurette discussing the game's recreation of the original film, including its environments, dinosaur models, and the performance work of lead actress Payal Mistry, who portrays Maya Joshi. But that video also contained something else most fans seem to have missed.
During a piece of concept art depicting a dinosaur stampede through a village somewhere on Isla Nublar, Maya can be seen sheltering in the lower-left corner beside a man who bears an unmistakable resemblance to Lewis Dodgson, the Biosyn geneticist portrayed by Cameron Thor in Jurassic Park before later returning in Jurassic World Dominion (2022), where the character was played by Campbell Scott.
The official website for the game already warns players that, in addition to dinosaurs such as Tyrannosaurus rex, Velociraptor, and Dilophosaurus encounters, there are “other surprising threats” lurking on Isla Nublar. Storyboards visible throughout the featurette also confirm the presence of multiple human characters throughout the adventure.
Dodgson would certainly qualify as one of those characters. The villain has become increasingly important to the wider franchise over the years, first appearing in Michael Crichton's novels Jurassic Park (1990) and later The Lost World (1995), while Adam Harrington voiced him in Netflix's Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous (2020–2022) and Jurassic World: Chaos Theory (2024–2025).
Dominion ultimately revealed that Dodgson did recover Dennis Nedry's missing Barbasol can containing the stolen embryos from the original film. What Dominion never explained, however, was exactly how he acquired it after Nedry disappeared into the jungle.
If this really is Dodgson standing beside Maya Joshi on Isla Nublar, Jurassic Park: Survival may finally be preparing to tell that story.
Jurassic Park: Survival Is Coming Soon
The official synopsis for the game states:
“Return to Isla Nublar the day after the events of the beloved 1993 Jurassic Park film in an original adventure 65 million years in the making. Survive thrilling first-person action as InGen scientist Dr. Maya Joshi, who was unable to evacuate Isla Nublar, in this single-player action-adventure game and discover a never-before-told story. Through thrilling encounters, experience the wonder and danger of dinosaurs, each with their own distinct and adaptive behaviors brought to life by John Hammond’s vision.”
The game will be released on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
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