Sam Neill Refuses to Speak About Jurassic World 3 Return

Jurassic Park star Sam Neill clammed up when asked about potentially appearing in Jurassic World 3 alongside franchise star Bryce Dallas Howard, who was similarly tight-lipped when asked if Neill’s Dr. Alan Grant will return.

“She clammed up,” a cagey Neill told IMDb with a laugh at the Toronto International Film Festival. “I’m clamming up now.”

In a separate interview with Howard, the Jurassic World star admitted to IMDb, “I’ve never met [Neill]. I’ve driven by his house in New Zealand [laughs]. When you’re stalking it’s like, you want to be stealth.” Asked directly how they might get Neill in JW3, Howard went silent — and then smiled.

Neill last appeared in 2001’s Jurassic Park III, where Neill’s paleontologist Grant was recruited to help locate a missing teen (Trevor Morgan). Last summer’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom saw the brief return of Neill’s colleague Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), who testified before a congressional committee, where he argued against rescuing the man-made dinosaurs threatened by a looming volcanic eruption.

Writer-director Colin Trevorrow last said he wants JW3, the sixth film in the franchise launched under Steven Spielberg in 1993, to be a celebration of the series as a whole. Asked by Variety if Goldblum, Neill and original series co-star Laura Dern could return in his Jurassic World followup, Trevorrow said, “I can confirm nothing. But nothing would make me happier than to be able to work with any of those people.”

Howard previously appeared to let slip the stars’ involvement at the premiere for Elton John biopic Rocketman, where Howard said she was “very much” looking forward to working with the Jurassic Park stars. “If that happens, I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t know what’s been confirmed or whatever, but I’ll blink if it’s happening and maybe…”

Howard’s Claire has twice survived dangerous dinosaur adventures alongside Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), but Fallen Kingdom ended with all of Earth becoming Jurassic World following the release and global spread of the creatures. For Trevorrow, that development means this next sequel will introduce to the franchise “something that we haven’t seen before.”

“In terms of the third movie, the goal overall is to bring the entire saga together,” Howard previously told CinemaBlend. “It’ll be the sixth film at the end of the day. For me, what I’m most wanting, other than an undercut, is for there to be more characters from the earlier films.”

Universal Pictures releases Jurassic World 3 June 11, 2021.