Laura Dern Hypes up ‘Jurassic World 3’ Return With New Video

Fans of the original Jurassic Park got a big surprise this week when it was revealed that original film stars Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum and Sam Neill would all be reprising their roles in the upcoming Jurassic World 3, which will arrive in theaters in 2021.

A video shared by the Jurassic World Twitter account on Wednesday sees Dern officially confirming her involvement after making the original announcement on Sept. 24.

“Hey everyone! I’m so excited — I guess you’ve heard I will be coming back to join everybody for Jurassic World 3,” she says. “And I will see you in 2021!”

The Big Little Lies star had originally shared the news to a packed theater of fans at a screening of The Battle at Big Rock. During a Q&A session after the screening, one fan asked about the possibility of original Jurassic Park characters returning for Jurassic World 3, at which point Dern walked out and revealed that not only would she be returning as Ellie Sattler, Goldblum and Neill would also be returning as Ian Malcolm and Alan Grant, respectively.

Dern, Goldblum and Neill will star alongside Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, who led 2015’s Jurassic World and 2018’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Dern and Neill previously reprised their roles in 2001’s Jurassic Park III while Goldblum reprised his role in 1997’s The Lost World: Jurassic Park as well as Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.

The Battle at Big Rock is an eight-minute short film directed by Colin Trevorrow, who directed Jurassic World and wrote the script for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Trevorrow will direct Jurassic World 3 and executive produce the film alongside Steven Spielberg. He also worked on a script for the project with Emily Carmichael, with Deadline sharing that the screenplay was written off a story by Derek Connolly and Trevorrow.

The Battle at Big Rock saw dinosaurs doing as they pleased after escaping to the real world, and since Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom ended with the dinosaurs escaping the island and making their way to civilization, so it’s possible that the short film can offer fans a bit of direction as to what they might see when the next Jurassic installment hits theaters in two years.

Photo Credit: Getty / Stefania D’Alessandro