Jurassic World Dominion: What We Know So Far About The Upcoming Dinosaur Sequel

27 years ago, one of the greatest movies of the '90s was released: Jurassic Park. It had visual effects that still hold up--and in many cases look more realistic than contemporary movies--and it became one of the most successful film franchises of all time. That's quite an accomplishment. And people are still clamoring for more dinosaur chaos on the big screen.

Two successful sequels followed--1997's The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III in 2001. But despite attempts in the mid-2000s to make a fourth movie, it took more than a decade for the next film to arrive--2015's Jurassic World. The movie was essentially a larger scale remake of the first entry, with escaped dinosaurs once more causing mayhem in a theme park. But the lengthy wait and the massive advances in VFX meant that audiences were eager for a new Jurassic film, and it went on to gross a massive $1.670 billion at the worldwide box office. The franchise was well and truly back.

The next release was 2018's Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, which was another huge hit. The third Jurassic World was announced before Fallen Kingdom was even released, and in March this year, the title was confirmed to be Jurassic World: Dominion. Production on the film was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it is set to resume soon ahead of its 2021 release. So here's everything we know so far about Jurassic World: Dominion.

Jurassic World: Dominion is currently scheduled to hit theaters on June 11, 2021.

There will be a number of familiar faces returning. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard will reprise their lead roles as Owen Grady and Claire Dearing, alongsideDaniella Pineda (as Zia Rodriguez), Justice Smith (as Franklin Webb), and BD Wong (as Dr Henry Wu) from Fallen Kingdom. The movie will also feature two actors who were last seen in the first Jurassic World--Jake Johnson as Lowery Cruthers and Omar Sy as Barry Sembène.

Several new additions to the Jurassic World series have been announced. The new cast will include Mamoudou Athie (The Get Down), DeWanda Wise (She's Gotta Have It), Dichen Lachman (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Altered Carbon), and Scott Haze (Venom). We don't know much about their characters yet, although Deadline did report that Wise has a "leading role."

Most excitingly for long-time fans of the franchise, Jurassic World: Dominion will see the return of the three original stars. Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum all appeared in Spielberg's Jurassic Park and will be back for the new movie as Dr. Alan Grant, Dr. Ellie Sattler, and Dr. Ian Malcolm respectively. Goldblum also starred in the 1997 sequel The Lost World and appeared very briefly in Fallen Kingdom, while Neill and Dern both returned for 2001's Jurassic Park III. However, this will be the first time all three stars have appeared together since that very first movie.

Dominion will be directed by Colin Trevorrow. Trevorrow helmed the first Jurassic World, and while the directorial reins were handed to Spanish filmmaker JA Bayona for Fallen Kingdom, Trevorrow remained heavily involved by producing and co-writing it.

Although very few specific details have been revealed about Jurassic World: Dominion's story, we do know a few things. Trevorrow has stated that the film will focus on dinosaurs being sold and spread throughout the world, rather than kept in an enclosed area like all the previous films. Some scenes were in fact considered for Fallen Kingdom, but it was decided to keep them for the third movie. "There were moments that we thought, this is more like a Jurassic [World] 3 scene so we took them out from the script," Fallen Kingdom director J.A. Bayona said. "Some of those scenes we thought were better seen in a world where dinosaurs had spread all over the world."

However, fans hoping to see dinosaurs rampaging through cities might be disappointed. Trevorrow says the setting of Dominion will be a world where "a dinosaur might run out in front of your car on a foggy backroad, or invade your campground looking for food. A world where dinosaur interaction is unlikely but possible--the same way we watch out for bears or sharks."

In terms of the characters, Trevorrow has also stated the next movie will focus on Owen and Claire taking care of Maisie, the granddaughter of Jurassic Park creator John Hammond. At the end of Fallen Kingdom, Maisie was revealed to be a clone, so at least we know Dominion is unlikely the beat that twist for sheer ridiculousness.

Like all movies that start filming earlier this year, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused delays. Dominion was a few weeks into shooting in London when the entire production was shut down. However, it has been reported that it will be the first major movie to resume filming in the UK next month. Universal is reportedly spending $5 million on safety protocols, including regular testing for cast and crew members and an on-site medical facility.

No official footage or images have been released yet, However, Trevorrow did post some cool footage of an animatronic baby dinosaur while the movie was pre-production, plus this image from the first day of shooting.

Given this is the sixth movie in a hugely successful franchise that has been running for nearly 30 years, there will almost certainly be more Jurassic movies to come. In May, producer Frank Marshall stated that Dominion will be "the start of a new era," and explained that "the dinosaurs are now on the mainland amongst us, and they will be for quite some time." And while we wait for Dominion to be released, there's also the upcoming Netflix animated spin-off Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous, which is set to arrive later this year.