‘Jurassic World Dominion’ Actor Sam Neill Shares How His Character Would React to the Park Opening

Jurassic World Dominion is the finale of the franchise that began with Jurassic Park. The 1993 film introduced audiences to Dr. Alan Grant played by Sam Neill. Alan Grant is a paleontologist who is skeptical of the existence of Jurassic Park. The New Zealand actor is returning for the latest Jurassic World movie and he predicts how Grant would have reacted to the theme park that was opened. 

Actor Sam Neill returns in ‘Jurassic World Dominion’

Neill is coming back to the Jurassic Park franchise as Alan Grant in Jurassic World Dominion, the sixth and supposedly final film of the franchise. Neill is joining newcomers to the franchise, Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, along with his old castmates, Jeff Goldblum and Laura Dern. 

Dinosaurs are now loose on the world and the world needs a dinosaur expert. Alan Grant warned John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) about what could happen by recreating dinosaurs and now his greatest fears are coming to fruition. Grant would have certainly disapproved of the amusement park that opened in Jurassic World and it would have been for good reason. 

Neill predicts how Alan Grant would react to the park opening

Neill did return to the franchise in Jurassic Park 3, but he has not returned for any of the previous Jurassic World movies. In the first Jurassic World, a dinosaur amusement park had been fully realized and turned into a tourist attraction. However, a genetically-altered dinosaur breaks loose and causes havoc, leading to the park being shut down. 

In an interview with Gizmodo, Neill says that there is no way that Alan Grant would have approved of this park. He also would have disapproved of Pratt’s character training velociraptors as Alan always knew how dangerous these creatures are. 

“I think Alan Grant would have thoroughly disapproved,” Neill says. “And, you know, every prediction that he ever would have made came true in that. But he couldn’t have quite foreseen a woman bitten in half by a sea creature and an air creature because she’s on the cell phone a little too much. But no, I think his attitude to Pratt’s character is ambivalent at best because Pratt has worked at this place and furthermore has actually trained dinosaurs, which Alan Grant would also think wasn’t really such a great idea. But, you know, given his empathy with dinosaurs, they do have quite, quite a bit in common. We didn’t probably quite make enough of that. But I think it’s an interesting dynamic.”

Neill says Alan Grant hasn’t changed much since the original ‘Jurassic Park’

It’s been almost 30 years since Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park debuted. It’s possible that Alan Grant has changed since then, but Neill says he hasn’t changed much since that time and is just “older and grumpier now.” The same can also be said for the other legacy characters as well.

“I don’t think he’s changed at all. He’s just older and grumpier now,” Neill shares. “But I don’t think people do change very much over the years, and I’m just more familiar with him now than I was. And I enjoyed being back in his company. It’s interesting. You don’t get many chances to play one character over 30 years. That’s pretty strange, isn’t it? But I think it’s true for all three of those legacy characters, [myself], Laura, and Jeff. Jeff’s character is still really annoying and won’t shut up, and Alan finds him infuriating. He’s still hopelessly in love with Ellie. So things haven’t changed that much. They’re just older and not much wiser.”

Jurassic World Dominion stomps into theaters on June 10.