New Jurassic World Movie Casts Rupert Friend Alongside Scarlett Johansson
Jurassic World 4 is expected to start production in June.
Rupert Friend is going from the Star Wars galaxy to the Jurassic world.
The Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi actor has joined the cast of Universal's untitled Jurassic World movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Friend's role is being kept under wraps, but the outlet reports that it will be a starring role opposite Scarlett Johansson (the Avengers movies), Jonathan Bailey (Wicked), and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo (The Lincoln Lawyer).
Gareth Edwards, known for 2014's Godzilla reboot and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, is directing from a script by 1993's Jurassic Park and 1997's The Lost World: Jurassic Park writer David Koepp. Plot details are locked behind an electric perimeter, but it's been reported that the new movie is the first in a "new Jurassic era" and is not a sequel to the Jurassic World trilogy that starred Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard between 2015 and 2022. Original Jurassic Park stars Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum, who reprised their iconic roles in 2022's Jurassic World Dominion, are also not expected to return.
Production is reportedly set to start mid-June in London.
Jurassic World 4 was officially announced by Universal Pictures when the studio dated the new movie for July 2, 2025. Frank Marshall, producer of the Indiana Jones and Jurassic World movies, is returning as producer with Patrick Crowley (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) and franchise executive producer and two-time Jurassic director Steven Spielberg for Amblin Entertainment.
Friend is best known for his roles in Homeland and Hitman: Agent 47. The actor played the Grand Inquisitor in the Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi and starred opposite Johansson in director Wes Anderson's Asteroid City, his second collaboration with the eccentric filmmaker after appearing in The French Dispatch. He also led Anderson's The Swan and The Rat Catcher short films for Netflix based on Roald Dahl's short stories. The Emmy-nominated Friend is no stranger to Koepp-penned sci-fi: he narrated the audiobook of Koepp's debut novel, titled Cold Storage.
The new Jurassic World movie roars into theaters July 2, 2025, from Universal Pictures.
