Jurassic World Rebirth: How might Jonathan Bailey's character be connected to Dr. Alan Grant? Speculations explored

Jurassic World Rebirth is the next film of the Jurassic World franchise, scheduled to release on July 2, 2025. Directed by Gareth Edwards and written by David Koepp, it is the fourth release among the Jurassic World films. Overall, Rebirth is the seventh entry in the franchise that started with Jurassic Park in 1993.

Here's the official synopsis of Jurassic World Rebirth, according to IMDb:

Five years post-Jurassic World Dominion, an expedition braves isolated equatorial regions to extract DNA from three massive prehistoric creatures for a groundbreaking medical breakthrough.

Jurassic World Rebirth has a powerhouse cast that includes Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey, Mahershala Ali, Ed Skrein, Rupert Friend, and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo. There are speculations that the character Jonathan Bailey plays in the upcoming film is connected with Dr. Alan Grant, who has appeared in previous Jurassic films and was portrayed by Sam Neill.

Jonathan Bailey's character in Jurassic World Rebirth explored

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English actor Jonathan Bailey plays Dr. Henry Loomis in Jurassic World Rebirth. He is a paleontologist and a pivotal character in the story. The actor revealed that Loomis shares a connection with Sam Neill's Dr Alan Grant, who has appeared in the original films. According to Forbes, Bailey said:

“I’ve always wanted to make Dr. Alan Grant proud. You’ll have to wait and see to see what sort of link there is between them.”

While the actor did not reveal details, this did not stop people on the internet from speculating. Some users on the internet believe that Bailey is playing the grown-up version of an impudent kid seen in Jurassic Park. They believe that the character is the kid who was confronted by Dr. Grant with a raptor's claw.

Forbes reached out to Whit Hertford, the actor who had played the kid. Hertford said

“It’s not my role, it’s Universal’s role. And more than anything, it’s the fans’ role. When you make a piece of art and you put it out into the world, it’s not really yours any longer. How many actors have played Hamlet? Thousands. You don’t get to go, ‘Mine is the definitive version.’ I think it’s cool for the fans because when I go to conventions, they always talk about, ‘Hey, we’d love to see the character’s storyline continue.

He added:

"Now they might get to, and I think that’s cool. I feel so lucky to be part of that first one. It’s always nice to be part of the original songs and not the cover band… But I’ll say it again, if he isn’t my character, listen, I’m not retired, man. I don’t know what sort of phone calls we gotta make, what sort of Reddit campaign we gotta get all the fans to subscribe to — I would love to play that character again."

According to Forbes, Hertford is willing to make a special appearance in any of the future Jurassic World installments.

More about Jurassic World Rebirth

Gareth Edwards directs Jurassic World Rebirth while the script is by David Koepp. The film is a standalone sequel to Jurassic World Dominion, which released in 2022, takes place five years after that film's events. Rebirth is produced by Patrick Crowley and Frank Marshall, and slated to be released on July 2, 2025, by Universal Pictures. Scarlett Johansson plays Zora Bennett, an expert on covert operations. Mahershala Ali and Jonathan Bailey play Duncan Kincaid and Dr. Henry Loomis respectively.

Other cast members of Jurassic World Rebirth include: