Jurassic World 4 Taps Rogue One’s Gareth Edwards as Director

The Jurassic World franchise is moving ahead with a fourth movie, and Universal has finally found the director to bring it to life. News broke recently that original Jurassic Park screenwriter David Koepp was reuniting with producer Frank Marshall for a fresh start in the Jurassic World franchise, with Bullet Train‘s David Leitch tapped to direct. Things with Leitch didn’t work out, however, and now Universal has looked to someone with plenty of experience in both big budgets and enormous creatures.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gareth Edwards has been tapped to direct the fourth Jurassic World film (the seventh Jurassic film when you count the original trilogy). Edwards helped start the recent MonsterVerse with 2014’s Godzilla, before helming the acclaimed Rogue One: A Star Wars Story just a couple of years later. Edwards’ most recent film, The Creator, didn’t make big waves at the box office but received plenty of critical acclaim and was praised for its astounding visual effects.

Universal is fast-tracking the production of the new Jurassic World, setting it for release on July 2, 2025. Getting a director hired was a crucial step, as production will need to begin soon in order to make that release date. 

This next Jurassic World is going to be a new chapter of the franchise overall, meaning that it won’t be involving any of the characters from the previous installments. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard reportedly aren’t coming back for a fourth film. The same goes for original Jurassic Park stars Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum, who all recently appeared in Jurassic World: Dominion.

While the Jurassic World movies didn’t ever match the critical success of Steven Spielberg’s original 1993 hit, they were all incredible success stories at the box office. Jurassic World, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, and Jurassic World: Dominion all made over a billion dollars at the global box office.

The good news for fans, in addition to simply getting another big budget dinosaur movie, is that Universal appears to be attempting to bridge the gap between Jurassic Park and Jurassic World. The name of the recent movies is being kept around, but the hiring of Koepp is a big step back towards the original Jurassic Park movies, distancing this new direction from Colin Trevorrow’s films.

In addition to Koepp and Marshall being involved in the new Jurassic World, original director Steven Spielberg will once again be executive producing through Amblin Entertainment. Patrick Crowley will also be producing through Kennedy-Marshall.