Jurassic World Rebirth cast as Zora Bennett, the leader of a dangerous mission into equatorial regions to recover rare dinosaur DNA for a medical breakthrough. The film has been teased as a return to the franchise's roots, with a script from original movie writer David Koepp.

The official Jurassic World on YouTube now shares a new featurette for Jurassic World Rebirth, with Edwards, Koepp, and the cast teasing what's to come. "It hearkens back to the first film," says Johansson, while Edwards adds that when he first read the script, "it felt like a love letter to Spielberg." As for the new footage featured in the featurette, a brief look at a raft sequence from the original Michael Crichton novel is included. Check out the featurette and Koepp's comments about the raft sequence below:

“The sequence with the raft was in the first novel, Jurassic Park. One of the first things Steven and I said was, ‘we gotta get that raft sequence in some place.’”

What This Means For Jurassic World Rebirth

The Raft Sequence Explained

After Jurassic World Dominion (2022) expanded the franchise's scope (and earned poor reviews doing it), it's clear that Edwards, Koepp, and Spielberg wanted to go back to the franchise's roots with Rebirth. In addition to tone, the inclusion of the raft sequence was part of this larger effort. In Crichton's 1990 novel, the raft sequence in question features Dr. Alan Grant and the two Murphy children boarding the park's river ride attraction when a Tyrannosaurus rex begins chasing them, starting a stampede, leading Grant to steer the raft over a waterfall.

Grant and the Murphy kids aren't included as part of Jurassic World Rebirth's cast of characters, meaning the sequence will be happening with newcomers in the story. As is shown in the footage, there is water mist in the background, which could be a sign of a waterfall (or a sign that one will be added digitally). This suggests that, aside from the characters, other parts of the scene could be pulled straight from Crichton's novel. How this scene fits into the larger Jurassic World Rebirth story, however, remains to be seen.

Our Take On Jurassic World Rebirth's New Featurette

The Film Can Course Correct After Dominion

Jurassic World Dominion reviews took issue with that film's story and failure to capitalize on the premise of dinosaurs living side-by-side with humans. The premise, in many ways, was too big to explore effectively. Rebirth going back to basics with one team on a mission in dino-infested territory – including in the research center for the original Jurassic Park – is a great way to simplify things, and this could end up paying off both critically and commercially.

Jurassic World Dominion has only a 29% on Rotten Tomatoes, the lowest score in the franchise's history.

Though big action set pieces have always been a part of the Jurassic movies, the suspense leading up to these set pieces is just as important. With Jurassic World Rebirth attempting to capture the magic of original, it hopefully is able to strike this balance while also introducing compelling new characters.

Source: Jurassic World