Director Colin Trevorrow has revealed that, despite the Jurassic World Dominion being marketed as the final installment in the Jurassic franchise, he did intentionally lay the foundations for “more to come.” Speaking with Empire, Trevorrow explains that he did not know that Jurassic World Dominion was being sold as ‘The epic conclusion of the Jurassic era’ until he saw the posters for the movie and that he instead added: "new characters that a new generation.”

“This movie clearly takes a real interest in creating new characters that a new generation is going to latch on to – Kayla Watts [DeWanda Wise], and Mamoudou Athie’s character Ramsay Cole, who I think, in the Extended Edition, you really feel his purpose in a greater way. And Dichen Lachman’s character [Soyona Santos], who just gets arrested at the end. There’s more to come.”

However, rather than marketing Jurassic World Dominion as simply another step forward for the franchise, the studio instead made it seem as if this year’s installment would be the last step ever.

“I never knew that this was the ending of the franchise until I saw the marketing. Those guys are brilliant at what they do, but for me I think it might have been clearer if they’d said, ‘The end of an era’, as opposed to all of it. Because regardless of the cynical approach – of course they’re gonna want to make more money, which is what Jurassic World was about – a new dinosaur fan is born every day. Kids deserve these movies, and young filmmakers grow up on these stories – much like Peter Pan and The Wizard Of Oz and worlds we’ve returned to constantly.”

Clearly, Trevorrow had no intention of bringing the Jurassic franchise to an end with Dominion, with the filmmaker hoping that his trilogy finale would attract new dinosaur fans and a new audience. At present, there is no word on whether there will be more from the worlds of Jurassic Park and Jurassic World, but considering that Dominion has now grossed $1 billion worldwide and become the second-highest-grossing movie of 2022, it’s safe to assume that, to paraphrase Trevorrow, there will be more to come.

Colin Trevorrow Thinks the Franchise Should Have Ended with Jurassic Park

Oddly, Trevorrow has also admitted that the Jurassic franchise should probably have started and ended with Steven Spielberg’s 1993 classic, Jurassic Park. “For the franchise to be able to move forward – because it's inherently unfranchisable, there probably should have only been one Jurassic Park – but if we're gonna do it, how can I allow them to tell stories in a world in which dinosaurs exist, as opposed to, here's another reason why we're going to an island?"

Considering that Jurassic Park is still considered one of the greatest movies of all time, with every subsequent sequel failing to live up to that legacy, it’s hard to argue with Trevorrow. Though these sentiments do make it somewhat perplexing that he himself has helmed the entirety of the latest trilogy, the filmmaker clearly tried to bring something different to the long-running series. With decidedly mixed results.

An extended version of Jurassic World Dominion is now available on Digital, 4K Ultra HD, and Blu-ray.