The news that ’s ending didn’t exactly leave the franchise with a compelling story to continue, and its abominable reviews made me less than optimistic about its future. That said, David Koepp g on to write the script did give me hope.

Koepp penned both 1993’s original Jurassic Park and its first sequel, The Lost World, so the reboot appeared to be in good hands. However, my hopes were dashed pretty quickly when I found out that the reboot’s director, David Leitch had left the project. His replacement, Monsters helmer Gareth Edwards, seemed like a perfect candidate since his 2014 Godzilla blended intimate character drama with large-scale monster movie destruction well. However, the reboot’s July 2025 release date seemed like too little time, until I heard Koepp’s comments on The Discourse podcast and finally started to feel hopeful about the reboot.

Writer David Koepp Revealed There Will Be No Retcons In Jurassic World Rebirth

Jurassic World Rebirth Won’t Be Another Reinvention Of The Franchise’s Canon

On The Discourse, Koepp revealed that there was a creative bible for Jurassic World Rebirth that outlined the rules the movie’s creative team followed. One of them involved no retcons, meaning everything from the previous movies is canon and will not be changed. Per Koepp, “The events of the previous six movies that cannot be contradicted or denied because I don’t like a retcon.” Koepp went on to note some more major rules that he and Edwards abided by, saying that humor was a vital ingredient and that science needed to be “Real” to work in the reboot.

The Jurassic World movies relentlessly retconned their predecessors whenever it was convenient.

While a commitment to realistic science means Jurassic World 4’s ridiculous ew dinosaurs shouldn’t be a problem, the first comment was what really intrigued me. The Jurassic World movies relentlessly retconned their predecessors whenever it was convenient, changing basic facts about the franchise’s dinosaurs and main characters to fit new plot developments. Maisie Lockwood was revealed to be a clone in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, only for Jurassic World: Dominion to effectively retcon this with her mother’s backstory. Similarly, the chaotic introduction of dinosaurs into human civilization in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom somehow turned out to be no big deal.

The Jurassic World Trilogy Retconned Big Plot Points From The Original Jurassic Park Movies

The Jurassic World Movies Changed A Lot Of Major Plot Elements

Jurassic World: Dominion was the worst offender when it came to the franchise retconning whole swathes of existing canon, as the sequel introduced Maisie’s unmentioned mother far too late and inexplicably turned Dr. Wu into a hero. However, the Jurassic World trilogy more broadly suffered a lot from sequel bloat. The Jurassic World franchise’s Rotten Tomatoes ratings reflect this, as director Colin Trevorrow’s 2015 original fared well thanks to its decision to remain a relatively faithful, if far larger-scale, retread of Jurassic Park. The next two movies moved away from the spirit of the franchise and suffered for it.

Like The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom struggled to find an excuse to land its characters back on an island infested with killer dinosaurs after the titular theme park’s failure. Like Spielberg’s earlier sequel, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom also used poachers as a plot device, but this soon led to a bizarre spy story where the heroes spent the final act infiltrating a group of arms dealers bidding on dinosaurs as bio-weapons. This plot twist might have worked in a fundamentally campier, sillier series, but the self-contained survival horror of Jurassic Park and Jurassic World felt utterly abandoned.

David Koepp Returning For Jurassic World 4 Is Another Great Sign For The Franchise

Koepp’s Jurassic Park and The Lost World Screenplays Are Classics

In this regard, Jurassic World Rebirth bringing back Koepp as its screenwriter is great news. Jurassic World Rebirth’s screenwriter hasn’t returned to the series since The Lost World: Jurassic Park, but his screenplay for the original Jurassic Park remains an all-time classic. The subsequent Jurassic World movies might have made a ton of money at the box office, but the critical consensus largely agreed that they just weren't as good as Spielberg’s collaborations with Koepp or even Trevorrow’s loving homage to the original movie. This makes Koepp’s return all the more exciting as he can fix the franchise’s flaws.

Koepp said as much on The Discourse, discussing how the series needs a change of tone. Koepp wanted something that he called “Maybe more akin to the very first movie,” arguing that the movie should be “Driven by bottles, by containment.” What this means for the series in practical is that Jurassic World Rebirth is likely to bring back the self-contained isolated survival horror tone of the original movie rather than the sprawling, globe-trotting adventure feel of Jurassic World’s sequels. After Jurassic World: Dominion’s terrible Fast and Furious-style set-pieces, I’m delighted to hear this from the screenwriter.

Jurassic World Rebirth Can Return The Jurassic Park Franchise To Its Spiritual Roots

Jurassic World Rebirth Can Revive The Franchise’s Original Tone

The Jurassic World sequels went wrong when they tried to turn the franchise into something it should never have been. Jurassic World’s sequels were too big and not scary enough, never replicating the intensity and claustrophobia of Spielberg’s early movies. Koepp clearly understands this, arguing that the franchise needs to return to its roots for Jurassic World Rebirth. Jurassic World Rebirth’s synopsis (via Universal) states that Scarlett Johansson’s covert operations expert heroine Zora Bennett ends up stranded on an island with a family of civilian holidaymakers, implying that the series will once again focus on small-scale survival over worldwide mayhem.

Koepp’s comments have me convinced that Jurassic World Rebirth could be the best follow-up to Jurassic World or Jurassic Park in decades.

Everything about Jurassic World Rebirth’s synopsis points in the right direction for the franchise, fusing elements of survival horror with an old-fashioned disaster movie while avoiding the sprawling adventure story of Jurassic World’s earlier sequels. I’m even happier to see that this won't come at the expense of the rest of the franchise, retconning anything inconvenient and making the series impossible to follow as a result. This bodes well for Jurassic World Rebirth and, along with Koepp’s comments, has me convinced that it could be the best follow-up to Jurassic World or Jurassic Park in decades.

Jurassic World Rebirth will be released on July 2 2025.

Sources: The Discourse podcast (Via Spotify)

Universal

Rotten Tomatoes