Original Jurassic Park stars return in trailer for Jurassic World: Dominion

The trailer for Jurassic World: Dominion has finally arrived, and man does it look glorious! The third entry in the sequel trilogy to the Jurassic Park movies has been long awaited by fans of the franchise, due in no small part to the return of original stars Sam Neill (Alan Grant), Laura Dern (Ellie Sattler), and Jeff Goldblum (Ian Malcolm). We knew a few other details, like that those characters will have their own plotline…but until we got an actual look at the movie there was still a lot of room for speculation.

Well, no more. Check out the trailer, and then we’ll discuss:

Dinosaurs reclaim the Earth in Jurassic World: Dominion

I can’t lie, this trailer gives me chills. Following the events of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, the dinosaurs on the island theme park escaped and made their way out into the wider world. The question of what would happen if the dinosaurs actually got loose is something that goes all the way back to Michael Crichton’s 1990 Jurassic Park novel.

The trailer starts with the words of the park’s founder John Hammond (played by the late Richard Attenborough): “I wanted to show them something that wasn’t an illusion, something real. Something that they could see, and touch. Creation is an act of sheer will. Life will find a way.”

In an age of constant reboots and spinoffs, Jurassic World: Dominion feels different, more like a true sequel. The trailer pegs this as “the epic conclusion of the Jurassic era,” and it doesn’t come off as a hollow marketing spin. Unlike when Disney touted The Rise of Skywalker as the real end of the Skywalker saga, Dominion actually feels like it could be the capstone to the Jurassic Park movies. Whether the franchise continues after this or not, it’s hard to imagine it pulling off anything as monumental as reuniting doctors Grant, Sattler, and Malcolm with this high concept extinction story.

What to expect in Jurassic World: Dominion

There are a few big plot threads we can gather from this trailer. The first is the obvious question: can dinosaurs and modern humans coexist on the same planet? With the scenes of destruction and mayhem, the answer seems to be no. While this isn’t the first time we’ve seen a dinosaur from Jurassic Park make its way onto the mainland (that happened in the climax of 1997’s The Lost World, when a T-Rex and its baby were brought to San Diego), it is the first time the dinosaurs have been free to roam the planet en masse.

It’s not going well. There are striking scenes of Atrociraptors racing down the streets of Malta in pursuit of Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) on his motorcycle, a T-Rex crashing a drive-in movie theater, a Mosasaurus dragging a ship beneath the waves, and more. On the flip side, we see Parasaurolophus running in a herd, with Grady and several others wrangling them to presumably keep them safe from poachers and the like. Grady’s pet Velociraptor Blue makes an appearance as well; she now has a baby, and there’s a looming question of whether Grady can keep the raptor safe.

Some other thoughts: it’s really striking to see dinosaurs set against a snowy backdrop, something we haven’t ever seen in the series before. This film looks to really be pushing the question of whether dinosaurs could even survive in our current climate, which is exactly the kind of quandary that author Michael Crichton probably would have posed.

We also see some dinosaurs with feathers! The original films didn’t feature any, but paleontologists have since discovered that several species, such as various members of the raptor family, did in fact have feathers, so it’s very cool to see this newest Jurassic World acknowledge current science.

We also see the return of one classic dino that hasn’t been seen since the first Jurassic Park: the Dilophosaurus, which has that frill around its neck and spits venom into the eyes of its prey. You might remember it was the dinosaur that famously killed Denis Nedry (Wayne Knight) in the original film, foiling the saboteur’s attempts to sneak dinosaur embryos off the island.

Lastly, let’s just note how terrifying that shot of Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) hiding under the water from the Therizinosaurus is. We got a hint that this scene was coming from the press photo above, but it didn’t quite due justice how intense the finished product is looking. If Jurassic World: Dominion brings in the bigger scientific questions of the original film alongside the claustrophobic horror that has been a trademark of the franchise, this might end up being the Jurassic film we’ve all been hoping for.

In addition to Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, and Sam Neill, the film’s cast also includes DeWanda Wise, Mamoudou Athie, BD Wong, Omar Sy, Isabella Sermon, Campbell Scott, Justice Smith, Scott Haze, Dichen Lachman and Daniella Pineda. Jurassic World: Dominion premieres exclusively in theaters on June 10.

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels