“Jurassic World Rebirth” may be much heavier on spectacle than character (for more on that, check out my review for /Film here), but one fake-out moment in the last act could’ve played out very differently. The main thrust of the story follows the ensemble’s attempts to survive on this mutant dino-infested island until a rescue party reaches them. But not everyone manages to escape unscathed from the so-called Distortus Rex, the film’s final boss. In order to save innocent kids placed in harm’s way, mercenary Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali) grabs a flare and heroically leads the D-rex away. He appears to be done for, but his last-minute return helps end the film end on a triumphant note.

That wasn’t always the case, as it turns out. In an interview with /Film, director Gareth Edwards opened up about the ending of “Rebirth” and revealed that one possible version of events actually kept Kincaid dead. Referring to this as his “favorite part” of the film, Edwards shed further light on the decision-making process:

“I’ll tell you, the bit we did shoot two versions of is Kincaid living and dying. Basically, the version where he dies, you just don’t have the other bit [where he reappears]. But because that was how it was written to start with and we filmed it and did everything as if he was going to die, everything felt correct. As an audience you go, ‘Oh my God, he’s going to actually die, of course he is,’ and then he does. Then when he’s brought back, I think it is a surprise. Then I felt like, ‘Oh no, what if the audience thinks we copped out?’ I would remind myself of ‘E.T.,’ which is the masterpiece version of this, where I never felt that at all in ‘E.T.’ I felt really sad [laughs] that he had gone, and then euphoric when he was back. It was kind of like a little version of that, where you sort of pray: ‘Is the audience going to …?’ And then watching it the other night [at the New York premiere], it got the best reaction in that moment and I was really like, ‘Oh my God, thank God we shot that version where he lived because it could have been quite a downer [laughs].”

That explains the human side of the equation, but what about the big, ugly mutant dinosaur of it all? The D-rex was (mostly) kept under wraps throughout the marketing, but this unholy amalgamation of a Rancor and an H.R. Giger drawing mixed with a T-rex finally goes on a rampage in the last action sequence of the film. “Rebirth” immediately stands out from the various other “Jurassic” movies for its choice not to stage some big dino-on-dino fight to wrap things up in a neat and tidy bow. Unlike several of the other sequels, Edwards instead focuses on the plight of the human characters and ultimately keeps the D-rex alive to terrorize the island another day. We asked Edwards about the reasoning that went into this one last swerve from expectations, as opposed to giving in to the temptation and have the T-rex save the day (again). According to the director:

“I thought about — that came up. It didn’t come up on the shoot, it came up in post-production where I just suddenly, I guess, I woke up in a cold sweat one night and was like, ‘Should we, should we have the T-rex turn up?’ [laughs] I went in the next day and brought this up with everybody and I expected everyone to go, ‘Yeahhh’ [enthusiastically], and it was just a reaction like, ‘Really? But all the other ones did that.’ It slightly kind of reassured me like, ‘Okay, I think that we did the right thing.’

But there’s this storytelling thing called [deus] ex machina and it’s like Latin, I think, for God basically coming and saving your characters at the end of a story. I think ‘Jurassic’ has this thing called ‘Rex Machina,’ where it’s like the T-rex comes and saves everyone. I remember [David Vickery], the visual effects supervisor, he was like, ‘But that’s one of the things I loved about this film, is that it didn’t do what the other ones did,’ and all this sort of stuff. Yeah, you do juggle these — there’s like, what’s the right thing here? You try and choose the right path.”

For a sequel that’s so indebted to the other films, we’d agree this was 100% the right call. And, who knows, maybe this sets up another sequel. 

“Jurassic World Rebirth” is now playing in theaters.

In “Jurassic World Rebirth,” a pharmaceutical corporation represented by Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend) puts together a team of mercenaries led by Zora Bennett (Johansson) to go to Ile Saint-Hubert in order to extract some precious dinosaur blood that may lead to new life-saving medicines worth big bucks. Surmising that the expedition is going to need a dinosaur expert, they seek out the services of Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey), a paleontologist who is discovering that the public’s interest in dinosaurs is waning as the creatures are beginning to die out across the Earth due to prolonged exposure to a too-unfriendly climate. At one point during the team’s adventure while stranded on Saint-Hubert, Loomis reveals that in his younger years he studied under Dr. Alan Grant, played in “Jurassic Park,” “Jurassic Park III,” and “Jurassic World Dominion” by Sam Neill.

Other than the existence of InGen and a world full of dinosaurs attempting to cohabitate with humans, this mention of Grant, small though it may be, is the biggest direct connection that “Rebirth” makes to the other “Jurassic” films. It’s a clever choice on Koepp’s part, given that this little bit of backstory instantly endears Loomis to the audience even more, giving us an indication that when it comes to the study of dinos, this guy is trustworthy. It also makes for an implied reference to “Jurassic Park III,” specifically to the character of Billy Brennan (Alessandro Nivola). In that film, Brennan was a student and friend of Grant’s, and his belief in paleontology went so far as to try and abduct a Velociraptor egg in order to hopefully sell it for funding. Billy eventually learned the error of his ways, and his storyline seems to echo a little in how Loomis attempts to plunder the nest of a pterosaur, Quetzalcoatlus, in order to extract some of an egg’s DNA. Needless to say, Loomis’ actions, however well-intended, draw the ire of Ms. Quetzal. Those paleontologists are always getting themselves in trouble!

To be clear, the Alan Grant name-drop in “Rebirth” only functions in the ways detailed above, and is absolutely not there as some sort of tease for a future movie or appearance. It does raise the question whether something with Grant and the other legacy characters in the “Jurassic” franchise might happen down the road, though, especially because “Rebirth” is, refreshingly, a one-shot film; it’s happy to be a self-contained “Jurassic” adventure in the tradition of “Jurassic Park III” or even “Jurassic World.” In this way, the “Rebirth” part of the title feels a little like a misnomer, for while it’s obvious that it has a meta connotation of a restart of the series after its assumed finale in “Dominion,” it doesn’t really explain what the future might hold for the franchise, if anything.

There are several characters who survive the events of “Rebirth,” so it’s possible that one or many of them might make a return appearance in a future “Jurassic” movie, yet there are no dangling plotlines or setups that make a return feel necessary. On the flip side, the last time we saw Dr. Grant, he’d rekindled his romance with Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) and the couple were about to testify before Congress about the shenanigans surrounding the Biosyn corporation. Might Dr. Grant wish to catch up with Dr. Loomis, his old student, in a manner similar to how Grant visited Ellie in “Jurassic Park III?” Or will the paleontologists find themselves embarking on a new adventure together, perhaps with some new faces joining them? As we understand from Dr. Malcolm’s chaos theory, whatever could happen might likely happen, so all we need do is wait and see.

“Jurassic World Rebirth” is in theaters now.