New “Jurassic World” Director Will Be “Rogue One” and “The Creator” Filmmaker Gareth Edwards

For a moment there, it looked as if the next installment of Jurassic World was going to be directed by David Leitch. However, now Gareth Edwards, helmer of the critically acclaimed Star Wars spinoff Rogue One and the recent sci-fi epic The Creator is taking his blockbuster chops to the land of dinosaurs.

The upcoming film is going to be set apart from the recent Jurassic World trilogy, meaning that Chris Pratt’s Owen Brady, Bryce Dallas Award’s Claire Dearborn, and the original Jurassic Park trio of Laura Dern, Sam Neill, and Jeff Goldblum are not in the new film. However, this next trip into the jaws of a T-Rex was written by screenwriter David Koepp, the man who penned Steven Spielberg’s 1993 original Jurassic Park and the follow-up, Jurassic Park: New World. 

The upcoming Universal Pictures film is set for a July 2, 2025 release, and with that fast timeline in mind and with Leitch and Universal parting ways, Universal and Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment needed someone with blockbuster experience and who could be ready to roll quickly, as production is slated to begin this June. Edwards rose to the top of their lists.

Edwards knows a thing or two about colossal lizards—he also directed 2014’s Godzilla, which launched Lengedary’s Monsterverse and re-introduced the King of the Monsters as a misunderstood, if no less destructive, force of nature. He’s proven again and again, with Rogue One and The Creator, that he can create fully realized worlds that pop with memorable characters and lived-in environments, both crucial elements to the Jurassic World franchise.

The new film is being executive produced by Spielberg through Amblin, alongside longtime Jurassic producers Frank Marshall and Patrick Crowley.

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Featured image: (from left) A Pyroraptor, Kayla Watts (DeWanda Wise) and Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) in Jurassic World Dominion, co-written and directed by Colin Trevorrow.