Rupert Friend joins Scarlett Johansson in new Jurassic World movie

Universal Pictures has been assembling quite the cast of dino hors d’oeuvres for their latest Jurassic World movie, and THR reports that Rupert Friend (Asteroid City) has signed on.

Rupert Friend will star alongside Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow) and Jonathan Bailey (Bridgerton) in the Jurassic World movie, with Manuel Garcia-Rulfo (The Lincoln Lawyer) also set to appear. There have also been rumours that Colman Domingo (Euphoria) and Dev Patel (Monkey Man) are being eyed to appear, but nothing official has been announced. Plot details are being kept under wraps, but you really can’t go wrong with rampaging dinosaurs. Just no locusts this time.

Gareth Edwards (Rogue One) is set to direct the new Jurassic World movie after talks with David Leitch (Bullet Train) fell through, and with the movie already slated for a July 2, 2025 release, Edwards will have to get to work pretty quick. The movie will relaunch the franchise with a fresh take, which means that neither Chris Pratt nor Bryce Dallas Howard are expected to return. The original trilogy group consisting of Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill, and Laura Dern won’t be back either. However, there will be a blast from the past behind the scenes as original Jurassic Park screenwriter David Koepp has signed on to pen the script.

Although Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and Jurassic World: Dominion didn’t receive the best reviews upon release, they did quite well at the box office, earning $1.3 billion and $1 billion, respectively. Universal clearly believes that there’s plenty of juice left in the franchise.

Even before the release of Jurassic World: Dominion, franchise producer Frank Marshall was already keen on continuing the series. “[Dominion] is going to wrap up this [Jurassic World] trilogy, but we’re not resting on our laurels,” Marshall said. “We’re going to sit down, and we’re going to see what the future is. We have that wonderful series, Camp Cretaceous, on Netflix. We obviously want to make quality, good movies with great storytelling, great writers and directors, but we’re definitely looking to do more in the Jurassic world.“