James Cromwell’s Jurassic World 2 character has ties to John Hammond

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

A couple months ago, it was announced that actor James Cromwell, best known for his Oscar-nominated role in BABE, had been cast in JURASSIC WORLD 2 (not the official title), but no details were shared about his character at the time – leaving it up to Cromwell to spill the beans himself. During a recent interview with Larry King, Cromwell did just that, revealing that his new character has ties to a prominent character from the original JURASSIC PARK.

The man behind Jurassic Park was the wealthy John Hammond, but when he was giving his presentation in the first movie about the cloning process that brought dinosaurs back in the modern age, to be star attractions at a theme park he "spared no expense" putting together, he didn't mention that he had a partner in this endeavor. But apparently he did.

JURASSIC WORLD 2, directed by J.A. Bayona from a screenplay by Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly, will introduce us to this mysterious man behind the curtain, and Cromwell will be playing him.

As Cromwell said: 

The character Richard Attenborough played, I’m his partner, Benjamin Lockwood. We developed the technology of being able to clone the genes. And so I’m trying to deal with the blowback from what we have done."

Unfortunately, Richard Attenborough passed away in 2014, so there's no chance of seeing Hammond and Lockwood interact with each other (the character of John Hammond also passed away sometime after the events of the second film). It should still be fun to see Cromwell step into this world of dinosaurs, though.

Cromwell is joined in the cast by Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Daniella Pineda, Toby Jones, Rafe Spall, Justice Smith, Ted Levine, Geraldine Chaplin, Brooke Norbury, Jeff Goldblum, and maybe B.D. Wong.

JURASSIC WORLD 2 is scheduled to reach theatres on June 22, 2018.