Fresh Look at ‘Jurassic World Rebirth’ as Director Says “My Eyes Lit Up” at Chance to Cast Scarlett Johansson

When Gareth Edwards took the reins of the next Jurassic World film, Jurassic World Rebirth, he knew the franchise needed something bold. That something turned out to be someone, Scarlett Johansson. Long before cameras rolled, her name came up during a story session at Universal, and it was none other than Steven Spielberg who made the call clear. “If we don’t give it to Scarlett, she’s going to kill me because she’s been pursuing a Jurassic film for ages,” Spielberg joked, according to Edwards in a conversation with Entertainment Weekly. “My eyes lit up,” Edwards said.

Johansson has long expressed her desire to be in a Jurassic Park movie “I’m an enormous Jurassic Park fan. It’s one of the first films I remember seeing in the theater. I remember seeing it so vividly. I cannot express how excited I am.” she told ComicBook.

Johansson steps into Jurassic World: Rebirth as Zora Bennett, a covert ops specialist on a high-stakes mission to recover dinosaur DNA from land, sea, and air. The setting? A high-risk biosphere near the equator crawling with prehistoric threats. She’s joined by Mahershala Ali as Duncan Kincaid, a trusted comrade from her past, and Jonathan Bailey as paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis. But a botched mission quickly turns into a survival operation, as the team is forced to save a family caught in a deadly situation.

Edwards says he took a page from Alien’s playbook , casting first, gendering later. Zora wasn’t written specifically as a woman. “It’s hard to think of someone better than Scarlett,” Edwards said. “Now having worked with her, it’s really clear why she’s had the career she’s had.” Johansson herself described Zora as a “good-hearted person and a loyal friend,” writing over email that, “She has experienced a lot of loss, yet she maintains a lot of positivity and humor… I just added my part to bring her to life.”

Importantly, Johansson wanted Zora to avoid being pushed into a cliché love triangle dynamic with her male co-leads. Edwards credits her for steering the character’s relationships into more complex territory. “She was super keen that that’s not what we do whatsoever,” he said. “It just became a different kind of movie.”

Visually, too, Zora stands apart. Edwards acknowledged past critiques of how women were costumed in earlier films. Johansson’s wardrobe was crafted with her input, practical, functional, but still carrying her character’s individuality. Whether Jurassic World Rebirth marks the start of a fresh trilogy or stands alone, Johansson’s presence signals a shift in tone and ambition. The dinosaurs may draw the crowds, but maybe this time, it’s the humans you’ll remember.

Read the full interview and check out exclusive new images here at Entertainment Weekly.

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