There’s nothing better than poring over fan-favorite franchises to spot new details. Jurassic Park may have surpassed the 30-year mark, but we’re still noticing little points to this day. If we take the entire Jurassic Park film franchise into account, well, that’s a lot of footage to puzzle through. This one film opened the door to an immense franchise full of movies, games, and shows. While it’s safe to say that not every ensuing film hit the same highs as the first movie, fans have enjoyed theory-crafting between the sets. That brings us to one fan theory, which may or may not create an unlikely connection between Jurassic Park III and the Jurassic World films.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Fans love trying to find new and interesting ways to create connections between the original trilogy and the new Jurassic World movies. There are plenty of obvious ones, from the named characters making appearances to certain notable dinosaur cameos. That hasn’t stopped fans from digging deeper. For example, some fans can’t help but wonder if there’s any relation between Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) of Jurassic World and Nick Van Owen (Vince Vaughn) of The Lost World: Jurassic Park. There isn’t, but there’s potentially a different connection tying Owen Grady to the island from that film and Jurassic Park III, and it’s a deep cut.
What Jurassic Park III Was About
To understand how this fan theory works, we first have to know the premise of Jurassic Park III. This film was, admittedly, the least favored of the original set. It felt more like a monster movie than a Jurassic Park film. Worse, it deviated from the animatronic elements of the first two and instead tried to get away with more CGI. On the bright side, it does bring back a couple of favorite characters, Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern). While the latter is too sensible to get wrapped up in this mess, she does have an important part to play in how the story ends.
In the film, Alan Grant and his assistant are tricked onto Isla Sorna (long story), where two desperate parents are hoping to be reunited with their missing child. The quest goes predictably wrong, justifying Grant’s stubborn refusal to ever have considered willingly setting foot on the island. While the team did successfully find the missing Eric (Trevor Morgan), it wasn’t without heavy casualties.
Ultimately, it’s reasonable to wonder if any of them would have survived had Ellie Sattler not sent both the U.S. Marines and the Navy to go and rescue everyone. Yes, really. She went over the top, but then again, she knows the risks those islands promise. Thank goodness Ellie now has friends in high places, thanks to her husband working with the State Department. Had she not been able to rally the forces so quickly, things probably would have gone very differently.
How the Ending of Jurassic Park III Potentially Ties to Jurassic World
At this point, you would be totally reasonable in wondering how on Earth that ending could tie into the Jurassic World film series. The connection is admittedly a pretty small one, so fans are welcome to discard this theory accordingly. This theory grabs onto the presence of the Navy on Isla Sorna, using that to tie a connection to Owen Grady.
Owen Grady is the protagonist of Jurassic World and ensuing films, and his introduction made a big splash. He’s taken the risky job of working at the park, not to maintain safety, but to train the raptors. That particular point has been talked to death, so we’ll move on to Owen’s backstory, as that’s what’s relevant here. While the film doesn’t waste a lot of time digging through Owen’s backstory or resume, a few key details are dropped. Including how he used to be a member of the U.S. Navy before signing up with Jurassic World.
It’s this key detail that leads some viewers to wonder if Owen Grady was potentially one of the Navy Members involved in the rescue mission. Without knowing when or where he served, it’s impossible to know for certain. Owen landing on that beach and getting his first glimpse of dinosaurs may explain his present fascination with them. After all, it seems that the Marines and Navy were not met with any direct attacks. Better yet, they got to see a group of Pteranodons peacefully fly off into the sunset (why they allowed that to happen is an entirely different question).
Is it possible that Owen Grady is one of the dozens of Navy members shown on the beach? Anything is possible; however, even we have to admit that this one feels like a stretch.
