At 53-years-old, actress Laura Dern‘s career has never been hotter. So the team behind the upcoming Jurassic World 3 was smart enough to snag the very busy Big Little Lies star to return to the dinosaurs run amok franchise after she starred in the OG film, 1993’s Jurassic Park. It’s going to be a great big slice of nostalgia for fans of the Steven Spielberg directed classic, as she’s stepping back into her Dr. Ellie Sattler role. And as if that wasn’t big enough news for fans, Sam Neill is returning as Dr. Alan Grant!
Laura broke the amazing news to fans with an Aug. 4 Instagram post that showed two chairs on set of the film — which is currently shooting in Hawaii — and her character’s name along with Sam’s were written across the black fabric in white lettering. Laura captioned the photo, “Day one. Hello old friend. #jurassicworlddominion.”
The 2017 Emmy and 2020 Oscar winner‘s post came a day after Sam tweeted a photo of his brown fedora hat he wore in the original Jurassic Park, along with the same message, “Hello old friend.” He tagged his co-stars from over 25 years ago, Laura and Jeff Goldblum, along with the Jurassic World franchise stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard. JEFF FRIGGIN GOLDBLUM is back with his old crew?? Alan, Ellie and Ian Malcolm back among dinosaurs? This movie cannot come out soon enough.
Hello old friend. #JurassicWorld #JurassicPark @LauraDern #JeffGoldblum @BryceDHoward @prattprattpratt @amblin @colintrevorrow pic.twitter.com/UQbctvqjdx
— Sam Neill (@TwoPaddocks) August 4, 2020
The best news of all is, Sam, Laura and Jeff all have major roles in the upcoming film instead of just glorified cameos, according to movieweb.com. Colin Trevorrow is back to direct Jurassic World: Dominion, and co-wrote the script. That means the film is in familiar hands, as Colin directed the original 2015 Jurassic World film, so he’s deeply familiar with Chris’ Owen and Bryce’s Clare characters.
Shooting is underway in Hawaii, which has been the primary location for all of films in in the franchise. It stood in for the fictional Island Nublar, with much of the shooting taking place on Oahu’s Kualoa Ranch. But a volcano blew apart Island Nublar in 2018’s Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom, so there’s always the fictional Isla Sorna, or Site B, featured in The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III that could be resurrected for the new film. Hopefully by the time the movie is ready for release, the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. will be under control and American theaters can reopen to audiences once again. Because no matter how big a home TV is, Jurassic movies are meant to be seen on the big screen.