J. A. Bayona May Return to Jurassic World as Universal Looks for Gareth Edwards’ Replacement

Universal Pictures is eyeing Juan Antonio Bayona as its top choice to direct the next Jurassic World movie. Bayona has worked on the franchise before: he directed 2018’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, which grossed about $1.31 billion worldwide.

According to TheWrap, the Spanish director is currently seen as the studio’s favorite. No deal has been signed yet, though. The Hollywood Reporter notes that Bayona sits at the top of Universal’s list, but formal talks with him may not have started as of publication. The studio itself has not commented.

Universal needs a new director after Gareth Edwards, who directed Jurassic World Rebirth, stepped away. In August, Universal confirmed his exit amid creative differences, while saying it was pleased with his work on the previous installment.

The script is already done

Development on the sequel has not stalled, however. The script was written by David Koepp, who worked on the original Jurassic Park in 1993 and returned to the franchise for Rebirth.

Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali and Jonathan Bailey are expected to reprise their roles as Zora Bennett, Duncan Kincaid and Dr. Henry Loomis, schedules permitting. Steven Spielberg and producer Frank Marshall also remain involved in the franchise.

Bringing Bayona back would be a fairly conservative choice for Universal. His Fallen Kingdom grossed about $1.309 billion, while Rebirth finished its run with roughly $869.1 million. That is still a huge result, but well below the peak numbers of earlier films in the series.

Bayona is no stranger to big franchises

After Jurassic World, the director helmed the first two episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and then directed Society of the Snow, which earned two Oscar nominations.

For Universal, that lowers the risk: the studio would get a director who already knows both the franchise and large-scale productions. But no decision has been made yet. The next Jurassic World has no officially confirmed director, start date or release date.