Jurassic World: Rebirth introduces a range of mutant dinosaurs to the franchise, and to help its classic character, the Tyrannosaurus Rex, compete, the film gives the dinosaur new power. The T-Rex has always been a staple of Universal's Jurassic Park franchise, often serving as a major threat to the human characters, or sometimes a savior. With Jurassic World: Rebirth taking place on the island housing the original testing facility for Jurassic Park, it's a chance for the franchise to play around with its classic creatures, and that extends to its most famous dino.
The upcoming seventh Jurassic World film stars Scarlett Johansson, Jonathon Bailey, and Mahershala Ali as an unlikely team of skilled operatives sent to infiltrate a dangerous dinosaur-filled island and extract some life-saving DNA from its inhabitants. Gareth Edwards, the director behind Jurassic World: Rebirth, aims to take the series back to its roots when it arrives on July 2.
T-Rex's New Power in Jurassic World Explained
A recent trailer for Jurassic World: Rebirth highlights several new creatures that will be hunting the humans on the island (such as the terrifying D-Rex). But the footage also confirms some familiar faces, like the terrifying T-Rex, who is shown following a boatful of humans down a river.
The T-Rex's new power in this Jurassic World film is its ability to swim, which it takes full advantage of as it pursues the terrified family on their tiny raft. The T-Rex is shown to be quite a competent swimmer as it fully submerges itself, surpasses the raft with ease, and flips it on its head before terrorizing the remaining humans in the water.
Fans have been waiting to see a swimming T-Rex on screen since Michael Crichton's original Jurassic Park novel. The novel depicted the river raft attack similarly to how it's seen in the Jurassic World: Rebirth trailer, suggesting this scene is finally being faithfully brought to life. There was talk of this raft sequence being included in the original Jurassic Park film, but it ultimately never happened. However, some parallels can be drawn to the Jurassic Park river ride at Universal Studios theme parks.
Why Can the T-Rex Swim in Jurassic World Rebirth?
Six Jurassic films in, it remains a question why the franchise hasn't chosen to incorporate the T-Rex's swimming abilities until now. There could be a few plausible reasons for this.
For starters, while the Jurassic World films aren't always the most scientifically accurate, there have long been questions over whether T-Rexes could swim in real life. The recent research on dinosaurs suggests that they could, with the theropods' muscular and bone structure making them suited for aquatic travel. Additionally, the fossil record has shown evidence of claw scour marks on the beds of rivers and waterways, likely made by large theropods like the T-Rex.
With the real-world science confirmed, how does Jurassic World: Rebirth plan to explain the in-world logic of the T-Rex swimming? One possible solution is that the dinosaurs in Jurassic World: Rebirth are all from the original testing facility for Jurassic Park, which has resulted in many of them evolving and mutating. Therefore, if this T-Rex is a mutant version of the species, this could be used to justify its new swimming abilities and explain why it's taken this long to see a member of the T-Rex family swim successfully in a Jurassic World movie.
How Jurassic World Rebirth's T-Rex Compares to Others in the Franchise
T-Rexes in Jurassic World are typically the top of the food chain and a threat to humans and fellow dinosaurs alike. Interestingly, many of the Jurassic films have utilized the same T-Rex in their stories (the female introduced in Jurassic Park, which fans nicknamed Rexy).
In the first Jurassic Park film, Rexy wreaked havoc once she escaped her paddock, killing Wayne Knight's Dennis Nedry and then destroying the velociraptors. The second Jurassic Park film featured a family of T-Rexes, with one even being transported to the mainland and going on a rampage in San Diego. In subsequent Jurassic films, the T-Rex's title as the king of dinosaurs has been challenged by various creatures, like the fan-favorite Spinosaurus, Giganotosaurus, and Indominus Rex.
With fans becoming familiar with Rexy and her abilities, and the franchise constantly trying to find fresh and new dinosaur species to top the classic T-Rex, it's exciting to see Jurassic World: Rebirth infuse its top-tier dinosaur with some new powers, which should make the creature even scarier and more unpredictable.
