Jurassic World: Rebirth Sequel Loses Director — Here's Who Should Replace Him

Before release, 2025's "Jurassic World Rebirth" seemed like it bore all the hallmarks of a franchise on its last legs. It would be the seventh installment in the "Jurassic" series since the first "Jurassic Park" in 1993, it would be rebooting the films after the culminating "Jurassic World: Dominion" from 2022 while ostensibly remaining in continuity with them, and so on. Yet the film proved without a doubt how hungry the general public is for dinosaur adventure movies, especially ones within this franchise, as it made a staggering $872.4 million at the box office on a reported $180 million budget. Perhaps folks were just more eager to see Scarlett Johansson tackle some velociraptors instead of Chris Pratt, but whatever the case, director Gareth Edwards made a hit. As such, it seemed all but certain that he would return for the next installment.

However, the (Jurassic) world was rocked today when Deadline reported that Edwards would not be coming back after all, citing creative differences. Although Edwards is gone, stars Johansson, Jonathan Bailey, and Mahershala Ali are theoretically still attached, and writer David Koepp's script is still in play. So it seems what Universal Pictures needs is a director to step in who has experience with big budget, effects-heavy adventure material, yet not someone who'll insist on a page one rewrite or other stipulations. As it happens, the "Jurassic" franchise already has a pinch hitter waiting in its wings: Bryce Dallas Howard. The actress appeared in three "Jurassic World" films as Clare Dearing, and has also directed several episodes of various "Star Wars" TV series, including "The Mandalorian" and "Skeleton Crew." Her experience behind the camera with effects-driven genre as well as her direct experience on the set of three "Jurassic" films makes her both an ideal and inspired choice to take the helm.

To be fair, Bryce Dallas Howard's good positioning doesn't make her the only excellent candidate to take over the "Jurassic World" sequel. There are several other filmmakers who'd likely do a wonderful job bringing new life to the series. One of these is Dan Trachtenberg, who's already worked wonders with reviving the "Predator" franchise. Trachtenberg's last entry in that series, "Predator: Badlands," kind of acts as a "Jurassic World" audition reel in retrospect, as that film contains numerous giant beasties. In a similar vein, Adam Wingard has now moved on from Warner Bros./Legendary's MonsterVerse, so he would be very available. He's shown himself to be adept with the kaiju film in his "Godzilla x Kong" movies, and I've long maintained the "Jurassic" series is America's answer to the kaiju tradition.

There are other picks for the gig who may not be as perfect a fit as the above choices, yet could nonetheless be right for "Jurassic." Folks like Ben Wheatley (who made a great monster movie with "Meg 2: The Trench"), Gina Prince-Bythewood (who does action well in "The Old Guard"), Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah (who revived the "Bad Boys" series), and even someone like Rebecca Thomas (whose "Wardriver" showed style and promise) have demonstrated traits that could serve "Jurassic" well. Yet while Universal's list could very well be long, it's Howard's name who should be on top of it. She's been deserving of a big break for a while now, and the idea of a former actor in the films graduating to the director's chair is too sweet to pass over.