By Jurassic World Rebirth presents a fresh ensemble of characters to the enduring dinosaur series, featuring a new primary trio.
There’s Zora Bennett, a fatigued undercover agent portrayed by Scarlett Johansson, Zora’s group leader Duncan Kincaid, played by Mahershala Ali, and Jonathan Bailey’s optimistic paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis. Zora is quickly depicted as a woman with a troubled history and a pragmatic disposition towards the present, and Bailey believes she serves as the film’s stabilizing element.
“I desired her to embody a 40-year-old woman who is the accumulation of all her experiences, whatever they might be, so that she seems like a fully developed individual and not merely a concept of a character,” Johansson shares with GamesRadar+, having collaborated with screenwriter David Koepp to shape Zora.
“You want someone who feels authentic and carries their own burdens, as we all do,” she continues. “I don’t want to label it ‘baggage’, but you arrive with your own experiences, and you’re self-assured in certain respects, while also grappling with perceived imperfections and aspirations that have evolved over the last 20 years. And, you know, [she] seems like a person who has truly experienced life.”
“I believe you grasp that from the very first scene,” Bailey remarks. “You stabilize the entire film, right? Because she’s undergone an incredible life journey as well – high stakes, risky – and you clearly perceive it.”
Rebirth features Zora, Henry, and Duncan enlisted for a clandestine operation that entails undertaking an illicit voyage to the Caribbean island of Ile Saint-Hubert, one of the scarce locations on Earth where dinosaurs continue to exist and flourish.
Taking place five years after Jurassic World Dominion, the planet has been rather harsh towards prehistoric beings, with disease and climate alteration nearly eradicating them all; dinosaurs can now only endure in secluded, tropical habitats. Zora and Henry each have their motivations for embarking on the mission, yet their driving forces are distinctly different.
“These films contain a lot of explosive elements that propel the narrative forward, so you don’t have substantial opportunity for character exploration,” Johansson further explains. “Therefore, when you encounter each character in the f