Jurassic World Makes John Hammond's Book Death A Conspiracy Theory In Canon

Wednesday, June 9, 2021

Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park didn't include John Hammond's death from the book, but Jurassic World brings it back as a conspiracy theory.

Jurassic World acknowledges John Hammond's death from the Jurassic Park book in a way that frames it as a conspiracy theory. Needless to say, there's a lot from Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park film that doesn't mesh with Michael Crichton's novel. It's a tale as old as time; movie and TV adaptations of famed books don't always follow the plot points to the letter, and instead either trim, omit, or rework details in order to fit within the scope of the film. Jurassic Park is no exception.

Various elements from the Jurassic Park book never made it onto the big screen, but many were retooled into later films. For example, the opening sequence with the Bowman family being attacked instead opened up Jurassic Park's movie sequel, The Lost World; even Dr. Ian Malcolm is presumed dead in the original book, but thanks to Crichton choosing to write a sequel, Malcolm returned to the fold alive and (mostly) well. While Malcolm certainly came back for The Lost World, so did Hammond - despite him being killed off in the Jurassic Park book.

In the novel, John Hammond dies after falling down a hill, breaking his ankle, and being eaten alive by a pack of Compies. This, of course, never happened in the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World film canon; Hammond instead went on to live out his life in comfort, dying of natural causes sometime after the events of The Lost World. The thing is, some people in Jurassic World's universe still believe Hammond died on Isla Nublar. In Camp Cretaceous season 3, Yaz tells Darius that Jurassic Park is haunted and legend says "the original park owner broke his ankle and then was eaten alive by Compies."

All one needs to do is watch the end of Jurassic Park to see that Hammond did indeed survived the Isla Nublar incident in 1993. And although The Lost World may not be official canon in Jurassic World's timeline, various sources of information - tie-in and marketing material, as well as dialogue from the Jurassic World film itself - all suggest Hammond still survived, if the final scenes of Jurassic Park weren't enough. But a kid like Yaz may not be familiar with the intricacies of what happened all those years before - although a "dino-nerd" like Darius does, and he knows Hammond died naturally years later.

Sadly, Hammond actor Richard Attenborough died at age 90 in 2014, but that doesn't mean Hammond's won't come up again in the forthcoming Jurassic World: Dominion. As the final installment in the Jurassic World trilogy and presumably the Jurassic Park franchise as a whole, which is also bringing back Malcolm, Dr. Alan Grant. and Dr. Ellie Sattler, there's plenty of opportunity to discuss the past and what happened with Hammond and the original park. Perhaps the final years of his life will be brought up as well.

Source: https://screenrant.com/