The new trailer for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom debuted during the Super Bowl, providing flashes of all of our favorite dinosaurs as well as a mysterious new hybrid, which lurks largely in shadow. The footage focuses on the creature’s many teeth and fearsome talons before finally giving us a better look at the beast in its entirety. It looks like a raptor, and acts a bit like a raptor, but if you think this is anything like Blue and the gang, you have another think coming, as we see when Claire and a young scientist come face to face with the hybrid dinosaur as it emerges from one of the park’s old service tunnels.
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The concept of hybrid dinosaurs was introduced to the franchise in the 2015 blockbuster Jurassic World, which prominently featured Indominus rex, the result of combined genetic material from such dinosaurs as the Tyrannosaurus and the velociraptor. It was enormous, cunning and capable of camouflage, which made it a formidable antagonist.
Is this new hybrid merely a repeat? As far as we can tell, this new dino is quite different from its predecessor. Presumably, this new creation is the Indoraptor was previously rumored to play a role in Fallen Kingdom.
Fans have been speculating about the nature of this new creature since executive producer/co-writer Colin Trevorrow tweeted a mysterious image of a new dinosaur: almost black in color, smaller than the Indominus, but much larger than a raptor. The name “Indoraptor” was trademarked in 2017 and was referenced in a deleted tweet by executive producer Frank Marshall, leading fans to the conclusion that this was indeed the name of the new hybrid.
You wonder how the Indoraptor could possibly fit in with the overarching narrative of the new trilogy. After all, the Indominus was created as a new attraction for the now-abandoned park; they couldn’t possibly have created more hybrids without first testing out a prototype.
You may recall that, during the climactic third act of Jurassic World, Dr. Henry Wu fled in a chopper with case full of precious dinosaur embryos, urged to escape by the military-minded Vic Hoskins (head of InGen’s security operations) who sought to use smaller predatory dinosaurs, such as raptors, for military operations. You may also recall the moment when, while fleeing multiple dinosaurs, young Gray noticed a research computer with schematics and information about a creature slightly resembling the Indominus Rex, but one he noted as being different. That was the moment when Wu’s allegiances were revealed. He hadn’t been limiting himself to creating theme park attractions; he had been working with Hoskins to create the ultimate military weapons.
As you might have noticed from those computer screens in Jurassic World and the new trailer, the Indoraptor appears to be a smaller, equally vicious version of the Indominus Rex, which proved to be an alarmingly adaptable and skilled hunter. There’s little doubt that, with its small size, the Indoraptor will prove to be even better as an hunter and as an antagonist.
While we’re excited to find out whether the Indoraptor will terrify as Indominus Rex did, we’re also eager to see Owen and Blue face off against it, and how the fan-favorite T-rex will stand up to this franchise newcomer without a giant Mosasaurus to burst out of the water and deliver the killing bite. Because, let’s face it, the T-rex was awesome, but that Mosasaurus won the title of reptile king that night.
Directed by J.A. Bayona from a script by Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom stars Chris Pratt as Owen Grady, Bryce Dallas Howard as Claire Dearing, B.D Wong as Dr. Henry Wu, James Cromwell as Benjamin Lockwood and Jeff Goldblum returning as Dr. Ian Malcolm. The film arrives June 22.