Scarlett Johansson and Gareth Edwards Compare Zora Bennett to Sam Neill’s Alan Grant

Jurassic World Rebirth is coming out this summer, and the movie is set to revitalize the franchise once again, this time by – seemingly – going back to the very roots of Michael Crichton’s novels.

And while the general world will remain the same, we are going to see a set of brand new characters in the movie, one of which is Zora Bennett, the movie’s protagonist, played by Hollywood legend Scarlett Johansson.

In a recent talk to the press, Johansson and director Gareth Edwards discussed the character and revealed a very interesting comparison that might interest fans of the original trilogy.

At the beginning, Edwards revealed how he had a sit-down with Steven Spielberg himself to help him choose the protagonist of the movie, and Spielberg, interestingly enough, helped him more than Edwards could even anticipate.

“It felt like at least one of them was going to be an A-lister. There were your obvious names floating around, and then at one point, Steven said, ‘Well, if we don’t give it to Scarlett, she’s going to kill me because she’s been pursuing a Jurassic film for ages.’ My eyes lit up,” the director said.

Interestingly enough, the character wasn’t envisioned as a woman initially; in fact, the protagonist had no gender at all, and much like Scott in Alien, Edwards wrote the character without having a specific gender in mind, which gave him more liberty to pick a lead actor or actress. And when the opportunity arose to get Scarlett, the protagonist became a woman!

“Scarlett’s character probably does share a little bit with Sam Neill in terms of the adventure side. She’s got this backstory. I don’t want to ruin it for people, but I was half waiting for the studio to cut these scenes out. There were these very emotional, serious scenes between her and Mahershala in the movie that you don’t necessarily expect,” Edwards further reveals about the character.

“There’s quite emotional stuff in the setting up with these characters. The hope is that you care about them without the dinosaurs.”

As for Johansson, she also described her character as one with a lot of substance, more than your archetypal action hero. “She is someone who has dedicated her life to service and to helping people. She has experienced a lot of loss, yet she maintains a lot of positivity and humor, even when things are hard. I wanted her to have a lot of sparkle,” she reveals.

“She is someone everyone wants to hang out with. She is a good-hearted person and a loyal friend. Of course, David gave her a lot of gusto in his amazing writing. I just added my part to bring her to life.”

Jurassic World Rebirth hits theaters on July 2, 2025.

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