Jurassic World: Dominion is a story 64 million years in the making, and a story with such a massive scale is bound to have some massive Easter (dino) eggs. Here’s all the ones we found.
The designs of dinosaurs
WE HAVE FEATHERED DINOS.
Seriously, the joy in seeing (slightly) more accurate representations of dinosaurs on the big screen should not be understated, with this being the premiere of some species like the Quetzalcoatlus and the Pyroraptor, and updating the models on others. The prologue not shown in the theatrical movie features a feathered Tyrannosaurus Rex, amongst other dinosaurs. For a more complete list of what they got right vs what they got wrong, check out those links.
Prologue and dino trackers
Viewers who follow the Jurassic World social media and affiliated sites, like their dino tracker, might remember a few scenes that aren’t shown in this movie, including the Battle of Big Rock and a deleted prologue that shows Rexy getting captured by Fish and Wildlife Service, which is why she’s being put on a flight to the Valley when Ellie Sattler and Alan Grant arrive at the airfield.
Also, the movies displayed at the Drive-In Theater are American Graffiti and Flash Gordon, American Graffiti having been directed by George Lucas, longtime friend and collaborator of Jurassic Park director Steven Spielberg’s, and Flash Gordon being an influence on both Spielberg and Lucas, as well as a hero who fought dinosaurs on occasion.
Dodgson
The main antagonist is none other than Dodgson from the first movie, Dennis Nedry’s contact with BioSyn, who tasks him with performing corporate espionage and stealing some Dino embryos. While Nedry’s crime ultimately did not go unpunished, the presence of the shaving cream canister in this movie indicates that Dodgson must have had a tracker on it and may well have sent in an extraction team to finish the job. He’s even killed by the same dinosaur as Nedry, the poison-spitting Dilophosaurus.
Owen Grady’s cabin
Claire first meets Owen, in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, building himself a cabin from scratch, indicating his attempts to settle down and move on from the events of Jurassic World. We pick up in this movie with Owen, Claire, and Maisie now living in a cabin, though this one is deep in the forest and not on top of a hill, possibly Owen and Claire’s attempt to keep Maisie off the grid and out of sight.
Also, his new job of wrangling Parasaurolophus features the same score as his iconic scene from Jurassic World where he rode alongside the Raptor Squad.
Flares and fire
Flares and fire are frequently used to direct dinosaurs’ attention in this movie, as they have throughout the series. Perhaps the most obvious one is Ian Malcom directing the Giganotosaurus’ attention to keep it away from the others attempting to climb into the facility, as he did in an attempt to help Lex and Tim in the original movie.
Return of the original cast
Of course, the original cast returning was a major marketing point, but the story also acknowledges their previous outings. Ellie has two college-age children, one of whom we met in Jurassic Park III, and has divorced her ex, allowing her and Grant to finally have the kiss fans have been waiting 3 decades for. Ian Malcom also has another two kids to his name, though we have no idea if any of them were with his Lost World girlfriend.
They get a ton of callbacks to their previous outings, with Ellie being the one to go restore the power and Alan Grant telling others to not move and risk alerting the dinosaurs to their locations. This also features the original cast reunited with original park scientist Henry Wu, who they never saw again after they went on their tour, due to him leaving with the rest of staff (which might also explain why he was so chill with the dinosaurs).
Cameos of movies past
While Owen, Maisie, and Claire are the main focus, we do get a few cameos of previous Jurassic World cast members throughout. Franklin and Zia are shown still working with Claire in her Dino liberation efforts, before being hired by the CIA. The CIA are also shown to have hired many other former Jurassic World workers, including Barry, Owen’s fellow raptor trainer, and Lowery Cruthers and Vivian Krill, who worked under Claire at the command center in Jurassic World.
Continuity errors
Maisie Lockwood’s background is given more explanation in this movie, showing how she isn’t just a clone created by her “grandfather” to replace his dead daughter, but is, in fact, a genetically altered clone who her mother carried and gave birth to.
Technically, this creates a whole bunch of continuity errors with Fallen Kingdom, as Maisie’s creation was what supposedly drove a rift between Lockwood and Hammond, but if she was alive when her mother was, then clearly anyone who could do math would be able to tell she wasn’t a clone created after her mother/donor’s death.
There’s also the fact that Hammond died in 1997, meaning if Maisie is 14, then this movie would have to have taken place almost a decade earlier for Hammond to have known of her existence. And that’s not even getting into the issue of Fallen Kingdom asserting that Isla Nublar was the last home of dinosaurs but also continually bringing in dinosaurs from Isla Sorna—though that does bring us to some cute family reunions.
Rexy and co.
Rexy has always been portrayed as a lone wolf, despite Lost World showing that there were at least 3 t-rexes on Isla Sorna. As of Dominion, she has finally met others of her own kind, as the ending montage shows her meeting the other t-rexes (though we know she’s still the queen of them all).
And they’re not the only ones, as the dino tracker site also shows the alpha and beta pair of raptors from Jurassic Park III living on the mainland. Maybe Blue can raise Beta with them as a new pack.
Life finds a way
The whole ending montage of this movie seems to go back to the idea of life finding a way, with dinosaurs living relatively peacefully amongst other animals. This movie also confirms that while this generation of dinosaurs is all female, there will be more generations to come thanks to asexual reproduction—and of course, leaving the door open for more sequels.
What’s your favorite (dinosaur) Easter egg? Did we miss any? Let us know in the comments!
(featured image: Universal Studios)
