After 18 months of waiting, Jurassic World Rebirth (2025) is finally out in theaters. Billed as the start of “a new Jurassic era,” the film introduces an all-new cast, led by Scarlett Johansson (Avengers: Endgame) and Jonathan Bailey (Wicked), a never-before-seen island, and the franchise’s first-ever mutant dinosaurs, including the gigantic Distortus Rex.

The plot centers on a top-secret expedition, led by covert operations expert Zora Bennett (Johansson) and paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis (Bailey), to retrieve life-saving genetic material from the three biggest dinosaurs on an abandoned InGen island named Ile Saint-Hubert.

L to R: Jonathan Bailey and Scarlett Johansson in 'Jurassic World Rebirth' trailer 2
Credit: Universal Pictures

Meanwhile, all the dinosaurs that once flourished around the world, as seen in the previous film, Jurassic World Dominion (2022), have been dying out, as the planet’s ecology no longer supports them. Those that survive exist only in equatorial regions where the air-rich climate resembles the one in which their ancestors thrived several millions of years ago.

Rebirth takes place five years after the events of Dominion, which means that, for a long time, dinosaurs were doing just fine. We already knew this from the 2022 film, which is set four years after Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018), the first entry in the franchise to unleash the prehistoric creatures into the human world.

But in the latest sequel, dinosaurs are literally dying on the roadside in front of everyone.

The Mosasaur attacking a fishing boat in 'Jurassic World Dominion'
Credit: Universal Pictures

Related: Universal’s Jurassic Park Likely To Be Permanently Demolished in 2025

Why the filmmakers insisted upon this major retcon is painfully obvious: they wanted to return to the tried-and-tested jungle island — even though they still could have done so without killing off all the dinosaurs on a global scale and retconning the previous two films.

Understandably, the decision to “de-evolve” the Jurassic series despite the great lengths Fallen Kingdom and Dominion went to to sever ties with the island setting has angered a lot of fans. But within this major retcon, there’s something that will anger them even more.

The T-Rex smashing through the Spinosaurus skeleton in 'Jurassic World'
Credit: Universal Pictures

Jurassic World Rebirth Has Seemingly Killed Off Two Major Characters

Remember Rexy, the original Tyrannosaurus Rex that appeared in Jurassic Park (1993) and throughout the Jurassic World trilogy, and Blue, the velociraptor that also featured in each of the last three films? Well, according to Rebirth‘s logic — that all, if not most dinosaurs around the planet are either dead or dying — these two franchise staples have also perished.

There are no returning characters in Jurassic World Rebirth, whether of the human kind, such as Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill), Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), and Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), or those of the more prehistoric variety, like Rexy and Blue.

The last time we saw these two dinosaurs was at the end of Dominion. Rexy became the apex predator at Biosyn Valley and Blue remained in the Sierra Nevada region with her offspring Beta. It’s hard to imagine they were smart enough to migrate to an equatorial region once they realized they couldn’t breathe properly. How would they have even known to do that?

So, going by the new film’s logic (of which there is little), Rexy and Blue are dead or dying.

“To think about they prob[ably] killed Rexy and Blue offscreen is wild,” one fan on X (Twitter) says.

“My only question post-Rebirth is what has happened to Blue and Rexy?” another asks. “Did they die off screen in between movies?”

One fan points out that, at the very least, Rebirth leaves fans with unanswered questions about the two characters. “I love how that’s their only explanation for events after Dominion (hate that movie), but like what? Rexy and Blue are dead or what? Kinda doesn’t answer any questions.”

Jurassic World Rebirth is out in theaters now.

It stars Scarlett Johansson (Avengers: Endgame), Jonathan Bailey (Bridgerton), Manuel Garcia-Rulfo (The Lincoln Lawyer), Rupert Friend (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Mahershala Ali (The Green Book), Luna Blaise (Manifest), David Iacono (Dead Boy Detectives), Audrina Miranda (Lopez vs Lopez), Philippine Velge (Station Eleven), Bechir Sylvain (BMF), and Ed Skrein (Deadpool).

Have you seen Jurassic World Rebirth yet? Let us know in the comments!

The post ‘Jurassic World Rebirth’ Kills Two Major Franchise Characters Off Screen, Fans React appeared first on Inside the Magic.

You Might Like