Jurassic World 2 Adds Another Big-Name Actor

Actor James Cromwell is joining the upcoming Jurassic World sequel, according to The Hollywood Reporter. There is no word on the character he'll play.

Cromwell, 77, is an acting veteran, having worked in film for more than 50 years already. He received as Oscar nomination for his farmer role in 1995's Babe. Some of his other memorable roles include the President of the United States in The Sum of All Fears and the warden in The Green Mile.

Jurassic World 2 is directed by JA Bayona (Orphan), who takes over for the first movie's director, Colin Trevorrow; he is directing 2019's Star Wars: Episode IX.

The Jurassic World sequel stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard once more. In addition to Cromwell, it was reported that Toby Jones (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) and Rafe Spall (Prometheus) have been cast.

Little is known about the plot. Trevorrow, who is producing the sequel, said last year that the movie aims to be "more suspenseful and scary." In an earlier interview, he said it may go in something of a new direction.

"The audience has given us permission to a certain extent to take this to the next level, and I don't necessarily mean in scale," he said. "I feel very strongly that it's not about more dinosaurs or bigger and better dinosaurs, it's about using this as a starting point for a much larger story about our relationship with these animals.

"Jurassic World was very much made with the fans in mind, and I'm not going to forget it, but now we've seen a lot of 'dinosaurs chasing people around on an island' movies. I think you guys and also the general audience is going to be down to explore where else we can go."

Jurassic World 2 opens on June 22, 2018.

Jurassic World currently stands as the fourth biggest movie of all time, bringing in $1.6 billion at the global box office. It was the first new entry in the series since 2001's Jurassic Park III. The franchise is based on Michael Crichton's 1990 novel.