Sam Neill confirmed for Thor 3; explains why he won’t be in Jurassic World 2

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

Sam Neill will always have a special place in my childhood. No I don’t mean I had a mini poster of him on my wall from a Tiger Beat magazine, and that I used to kiss the magazine before bed. I mean that along with Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones, Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker and Michael Keaton as Batman, Sam Neill as Alan Grant in JURASSIC PARK was one of the defining heroes of my adolescence. I haven’t seen him in much since, but it looks like he will again grace the world of mega franchises.

During an interview with Shortlist Neill gave a confirmation that he will indeed be joining Thor and friends in next year’s THOR: RAGNAROK:

“I’m not really allowed to say this and I can’t tell you what it is… I did a couple of days on Thor just before I came over here. If I say anything else, Marvel’s secret agents — and they are lethal — will come and get me and probably my children, as well.”

It was a very on-the-DL confirmation (as Marvel has better ears than God), or else it would’ve been had Neill not then taken to Twitter to mention it again:

Dammit , Now you've told everyone. Yes, I was playing a Dark Horse on some kind of Dark Horse Planet . And making tea for @TaikaWaititi https://t.co/uVWVK1rXyB

— Sam Neill (@TwoPaddocks) September 25, 2016

Not sure I'm IN #ThorRagnarok exactly. Was ON SET 4 or 5 days. Making tea for @TaikaWaititi mostly. Working out w @chrishemsworth etc https://t.co/p6RtY35ej9

— Sam Neill (@TwoPaddocks) September 25, 2016

So yeah, the cat’s outta the bag, now it’s time to speculate what kind of cat Neill will be playing in the new superhero epic. But while you ponder that I have some bad news for you on top of this amazing news, because if there is a God he/she/fish doesn’t want us to ever be happy. Sam Neill, in the same interview, unveiled he will most likely not be in JURASSIC WORLD 2:

“I think the problem is that no one knows where Alan Grant is anymore. He’s retired from paleontology. He’s sick to death of dinosaurs and running. He’s not quite as fleet of foot as he was, and he’s now retired to Dayton, Ohio, and has a very successful accountancy business. I think that’s what’s happened to Alan. Either that or he’s dead.”

“The call hasn’t come. And no one can find Grant. He’s disappeared. Someone found his hat. His hat was floating on the Hudson river, but that was the last ever heard of him.”

Though sad, Neill does pose a realistic scenario for Grant after all the terrible things that happened to him. I mean, here is a guy who just wanted to find some cool dino bones but ended up seeing dozens of folks eaten by a T-Rex. How do you recover from that? Neill asked the same thing:

“How do you recover from all of that stuff? I don’t think therapists are trained to deal with post-dino stuff. No. I don’t think you get over it. Accountancy would be one way.”

As for the THOR news I couldn’t be more psyched. I grew up watching Neill as Grant run from hungry dinosaurs, and I can even trace my love of history and old-school adventuring to him, as well as Ford in INDIANA JONES. I’m just curious to see what his role is, as filming for only 4-5 days hints he won’t have a massive role. Still, the fact that he AND Jeff Goldblum are in this is too much for the kid in me to handle. That being said, when it comes to WORLD 2, I’m pretty disheartened, but maybe we can still hope for Goldblum. And in a way, all you need is a little Goldblum. That, or they could just get some dinosaurs in THOR. Best Picture material right there.

You can see Neill along with Chris Hemsworth, Cate Blanchett, Mark Ruffalo, Jeff Goldblum and more in THOR: RAGNAROK on November 3, 2017.