The Jurassic Park universe has always been synonymous with cinematic spectacle, transporting audiences to a world where dinosaurs once again roam the Earth. Now, the upcoming Jurassic World Rebirth is set to hit the 2025 movie schedule coming, and a familiar creative voice is stepping back into the fold. The film’s writer, returning series legacy talent David Koepp, recently opened up about rejoining the franchise. He not only shared his excitement for this new chapter but also teased a moment hardcore fans, of which I am one, will love.
During a recent interview with Variety, David Koepp, who penned the scripts for the first two Jurassic Park films, shared that the idea for Rebirth started with a conversation with collaborator Steven Spielberg. Koepp explained to the trade just how the casual brainstorming session between the two soon turned into a full-fledged project:
The first two movies were two of my favorite experiences ever. And Steven said, ‘What about starting over? Let’s try something all new.’ I said, ‘Oh, that’s a cool idea. What if blah, blah, blah,’ and then I threw an idea back. That’s it. It caught. You do that all the time with your friends and collaborators: throw ideas back and forth. And sometimes they catch, usually they don’t. There is pressure because it’s going to cost a lot of money and there are going to be big expectations and blah, blah, blah. But there was no pressure at first — just the pursuit of our ideas.
Though the pressure of revisiting a beloved franchise is undeniable—“it’s going to cost a lot of money, and there are going to be big expectations,” Koepp admitted—the initial development process was free of constraints, focused purely on creativity.
What will surely have fans buzzing, however, is David Koepp’s confirmation that Rebirth will have a very specific (and cool) link to Michael Crichton’s first Jurassic Park novel. The Stir of Echoes penner added while talking about how he prepared to craft this story:
I reread the two novels to get myself back in that mode though. We did take some things from them. There was a sequence from the first novel that we’d always wanted in the original movie, but didn’t have room for. We were like, ‘Hey, we get to use that now.’ But just to get back in that head space 30 years later — is it still fun? And the answer is yes, it still really is. Dinosaurs are still fun.
While David Koepp didn’t reveal which scene from Michael Crichton’s original novel will finally roar to life on screen, fans of the books know there’s no shortage of thrilling moments that never made the cut in the OG flicks. For my money, one of the most iconic sequences that deserves its time in the cinematic spotlight is the river raft scene with Alan Grant and the kids.
In this nail-biting chapter, the trio navigates downriver in a small raft, desperately trying to evade the relentless dinos and make their way to safety. The tension ramps up when they spot the T. rex lurking on the riverbank, stalking them. When you think they’re in the clear, the beast plunges into the river and begins swimming after them, adding a new layer of primal terror.
Now, it’s unlikely Alan, Lex, or Tim will be making a return for the sequel to one of the best sci-fi movies—besides, they’re more than 30 years older now and the scene wouldn’t quite deliver the same kind of punch. But I could see this scene reimagined for the new film, with fresh characters taking on the perilous journey. It’d be a sequence that would combine everything fans love about Jurassic Park: heart-stopping action, edge-of-your-seat tension, and the ever-present reminder that humans are way out of their depth in the dinosaur kingdom. Here’s hoping this long-lost moment finally makes the leap from page to screen.
Jurassic: World Rebirth is scheduled for release on July 2, 2025. If you want to revisit the original trilogy of films, all three movies are currently available to stream on Starz.