We recently learned that Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Godzilla director Gareth Edwards will take the helm of Universal Pictures' latest Jurassic World movie, but David Leitch (Deadpool 2, Atomic Blond, Bullet Train) was briefly attached to direct before deciding to part ways with the project.
At the time, we were told that Leitch stepped away after coming to the realization that his "creative input would be minimal due to the project’s fast-tracked status," and the filmmaker has now elaborated on his reasons for bailing on the film.
“We have the privilege of choice and that’s daunting,” he explained during an appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. “And it’s true though, and we’ve kind of earned it, in terms of the movies that we’ve made and the successes they’ve had, and hopefully continued success, but to be asked to be in those worlds, you want to take those conversations seriously, and we are creative to find our ways in to a lot of things. So it was a really great conversation to have, to be in talks with Steven and Frank, about that franchise that is so dear to us, it was a really beautiful time.”
“Ultimately, you have to do what’s best for the movie at hand and do what’s best for you as an artist,” Leitch continued. “And make sure that you’re making the same movie, and you could do it within the parameters, and at some point we just said—we wanted to give that answer quickly because they have to go make this movie quickly that everyone is excited to see and I think that they’ve landed on, obviously, a brilliant director, who we love and respect and… it’s gonna be amazing.”
It sounds like the studio might be hesitant to take any major creative swings after Jurassic World: Dominion, and Leitch may have had some ideas that they weren't fully on board with.
Plot details are still under wraps, but the movie will reportedly launch a “new Jurassic era” with an all-new storyline, which would seem to indicate that Jurassic World stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, along with the original JW crew played by Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, will not be returning.
Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow, Jojo Rabbit) and Jonathan Bailey (Bridgerton) will play the leads, with Colman Domingo (The Color Purple) rumored to be in talks to play the villain.
The untitled movie (Jurassic City has been rumored) is set to hit theaters on July 2, 2025.