The original ending of Jurassic Park was “T-Rex-less”

Netflix’s docuseries, The Movies That Made Us, gives viewers a walk down memory lane by paying homage to iconic movies of the ’80s and ’90s, going behind the scenes to share how they shaped pop culture and what went into making them. Over the last two years, the series has covered movies ranging from Forrest Gump to Home Alone, and in its most recent season, Jurassic Park.

The 1993 Steven Spielberg movie took over the world when it brought Michael Crichton’s novel to life. Dinosaurs being created via dino DNA from fossilized blood-sucking insects? Who wouldn’t want to watch a story like that on the big screen?

In the Jurassic Park episode of The Movies That Made Us, CG animator Steve “Spaz” Williams shared something interesting about the ending. Originally, it was meant to look a lot different than the epic battle between the Tyrannosaurus Rex and the vicious Velicoraptors. In fact, it was supposed to be “T-Rex-less.” Say what?

How the original Jurassic Park was supposed to end

Assuming you’ve watched the original 1993 movie (if you haven’t then you need to stop reading and go watch ASAP), then you’ll recall that the movie ends with the human characters barely making it out of the Jurassic Park Visitor Center atrium alive. In an ironic twist of events, they are essentially rescued by the Tyrannosaurus Rex, which intervenes right as a group of Velicoraptors is about to have the humans for lunch.

To the tune of John Williams’ iconic theme music, the T-Rex grabs one of the raptors and throws it across the room. The humans escape and we’re left with the T-Rex roaring as the “When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth” banner falls to the ground next to it.

Apparently, this entire scene was rewritten last minute. The original ending was very different, and not nearly as dramatic and climactic as the one we got.

The story begins with Spaz Williams creating the first digitally animated dinosaur test footage that ultimately convinced Spielberg to utilize CGI in the movie. At the time, CGI was new and untested, so Spielberg wasn’t jumping to incorporate it. The T. Rex was originally more of a background character in the movie, and oftentimes a life-sized animatronic was used during close-ups.

Everything changed once Spielberg saw the animation tests of the T-Rex. He was impressed, and just like that the T-Rex went from supporting cast to lead role.

Spielberg’s original plan, in case you were wondering, was to have Sam Neill’s Alan Grant and the rest of the survivors escape from the Velicoraptors on their own. Instead of a T-Rex helping out, Grant was going to “skewer one of the raptors” with a fossil. The fossil of the T-Rex’s giant jaw bone would squash one of the other raptors, and that was going to be it. Talk about anticlimactic! Happily, Spaz Williams was on the case.

Williams said that Spielberg “decides literally to rewrite an end sequence” with just a few weeks left in production. ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) artists worked together to give the final scene the polish it needed. I’d say the visual effects were better than some of the stuff we see nowadays. Those dinosaurs looked as real as their human costars, which is one of many reasons why Jurassic Park is as beloved as it is even all these years later. We love this world, and I can’t wait to get more of it next summer when Jurassic World: Dominion releases in theaters on June 10.

And the best part? Laura Dern (Dr. Ellie Sattler), Sam Neill (Dr. Alan Grant), and Jeff Goldblum (Dr. Ian Malcolm) are reprising their roles from the original movie. 2022 can’t get here soon enough.

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h/t Screen Crush