The Jurassic World movies and their previous Jurassic Park brethren always try to up the ante with a big bad dino for spectacle, but there's still one big move left in its metaphorical back pocket that could elevate the next entry, Jurassic World: Rebirth, to new heights.
The last three World movies specifically took this to another level, introducing the deadly hybrids of the Indominus Rex and the Indoraptor. For Dominion, the film introduced the Giganotosarus as its main big bad.
Of course, there’s always been the Tyrannosaurus Rex—but it might be high time to put Rexy on the back burner and bring back another colossal carnivorous dino for the good of the franchise: the Spinosaurus.
What Is the Spinosaurus in Jurassic Park, And What Happened to It?
The Spinosaurus was first introduced to audiences in 2001’s Jurassic Park 3.
The Spinosaurus is a spinosaurid therapod dinosaur that, in real life, was found in North Africa during the Cretaceous Period. It is one of the biggest land carnivores ever discovered and remains the longest carnivorous dino to date.
Its trademark look features a large fin on its back and an elongated snout, almost like a crocodile’s. While it can function on land, it can also maneuver and hunt in water.
The terrifying creature was cloned, created, and experimented on after the events of Jurassic Park and on a separate island called Isla Sorna.
The Spinosaurus was the first dinosaur in the Jurassic Park films to truly act like a proper villain, something the Indominus Rex and Indoraptor would try to mimic in later films.
Needless to say, Spino did it wonderfully and gave everyone trying to survive a harrowing experience throughout Jurassic Park 3. It even managed to take down the Tyrannosaurus Rex herself, an event many fans are still salty about (it’s okay to move on).
By the movie's end, the Spinosaurus is alive and well, though it’s never seen in live action again. The closest audiences get to seeing it again is its skeleton set up in Jurassic World, a display that the T-Rex gleefully destroys in the film’s final act.
The same Spino from Jurassic Park 3 actually showed up in Jurassic Word: Camp Cretaceous (though some still argue they are different dinos), Netflix’s animated spinoff series. It appeared in both Season 4 and Season 5, where it played a key role and obstacle against the leading characters.
During the show's events, the same Spino from Isla Sorna was moved to a new island called Mantah Corp Island.
Another animated Netflix show, Chaos Theory, revealed that all the dinosaurs on Mantah Corp Island were moved to a new location by the Department of Prehistoric Wildlife—though a final destination and update on their fates are unknown.
However, while these shows are considered canon, there’s nothing keeping future movies from retconning anything that happened in them.
Why the Spinosaurus Deserves Another Chance For the Good of the Franchise
So many fans hold the Spinosaurus’ defeat of the T-Rex against it, even to this day—which is insane. Talk about being sore losers.
But that decisive moment proves that, at least in the world of Jurassic Park and Jurassic World, Spino remains one of the strongest dinos ever created in-universe.
The Spinosaurus is also, to this day, the best-designed creature to ever come out of the films. It’s truly terrifying to watch them chase down helpless victims.
If a story needs a big bad dino to stand in the hero’s way, Jurassic Park 3 proved that Spino does it best. An added plus is how it can serve as an equal threat on both land and water, making escape that much more difficult.
Additionally, Spino is ripe for a reintroduction due to its unresolved dangling plot threads. After all, whatever happened to Isla Sorna or Mantah Corp Island, especially after the events of both Fallen Kingdom (which saw Isla Nubar blown up) and Dominion?
That extra Nostalgia factor of finally bringing back Spino, who hasn’t been seen in over twenty-three years in live-action, could certainly boost interest in any new installments for the franchise.
How Could the Spinosaurus Play into Jurassic World: Rebirth?
When it comes to how the Spinosaurus will play into the storyline of Scarlet Johansson's upcoming Jurassic World: Rebirth film, there’s an easy way to include him.
First, the film’s plot synopsis teases that the cast will need to extract DNA from the largest land, water, and flying dinosaurs to create a miraculous life-saving drug. To do this, they will need to access some of the last sanctuaries where dinosaurs have been able to cling to life despite the inhospitable ecosystem.
The current running theory for the three massive dinosaurs being hunted are the Mosasaurus, Titanisaurus, and Quetzacoatlus—notably not the Spinosaurus. However, it's important to point out that the Spino doesn't need to be one of those big targets in order to be important.
Wherever this sanctuary is in Rebirth, perhaps the Spinosaurus is one of those last few Dinos successfully holding on to life. Doing so would provide quite a massive obstacle for the team of protagonists as they venture through its territory.
As Jurassic Park 3 showed, the Spinosaurus is very aggressive and territorial. So, given what's already established, it would make for the perfect antagonistic villain for the piece without it being cartoonish.
Of course, these films always introduce new things, so there’s a strong chance the story might opt to focus on a new bloodthirsty carnivore instead.
Jurassic World: Rebirth lands in theaters on July 2, 2025.
