The news that we would be getting a new Jurassic World movie was maybe not that surprising. After all, the property includes some of the best sci-fi movies of all time. The last trilogy made billions at the box office and so it’s not too surprising that Universal would want to keep that train rolling. The news that we will be getting Jurassic World 4 as early as next summer, is a bit of a shock, as we didn’t know the film had been in development until after a script was reportedly almost done. But to get a movie done that fast, it will need to start filming soon, and that means finding its cast, and a crazy rumor indicates the movie wants Black Widow herself to lead the new film.
A report from The Insneider indicates that Scarlett Johansson has actually already been offered the lead in Jurassic World 4. If true, it would certainly answer some questions about the new movie that we’ve had since the beginning. While the new movie is being called Jurassic World 4 currently, it sounds like the plan is to start a new chapter of the franchise with new lead characters. That doesn’t mean nobody who appeared in previous films will be in the new movie at all, several previous Jurassic co-stars have already expressed interest. But it would seem they won’t be the focus.
The current rumor indicates that Johansson has been offered the role, but not that she’s accepted it. There are any number of reasons the deal could fall through from scheduling conflicts to money to simply deciding she doesn’t want to make a movie where she runs away from CGI dinosaurs.
If we assume the rumor is true, and Scarlett Johansson doesn’t take the role, we can at least expect that the lead character of the new movie will be a woman, and so another female star will be sought out. Johansson being considered would also seem to indicate the level of star that the new Jurassic World movie is looking for.
Jurassic World 4 is set to be directed by Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’s Gareth Edwards. However, the movie was previously set to be directed by David Leitch, who dropped out. This is exactly why we can’t assume Johansson is on board, because even if the rumor is true, any number of stumbling blocks could still prevent it from happening.
It would be the first time Edwards and Johansson worked together if the deal does come to pass. If the two hit it off in early discussions and have similar perspectives on a new Jurassic movie, that could be the reason the deal ends up happening.
At the moment we have to treat this strictly as a rumor. If this deal doesn’t happen it could be because it was never going to happen. But if the Jurassic World 4 release date of next July is really going to happen, production needs to get going, so the movie needs to find its star soon, whoever it turns out to be.