Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom ended in arguably the most interesting place of any movie in the Jurassic franchise, with the dinosaurs roaming free across the world. And according to Jurassic World architect Colin Trevorrow, more animatronics are being used than in the previous two films to bring those newly freed dinosaurs to life in Jurassic World: Dominion.

Speaking with Collider’s Steve Weintraub during our "Directors on Directing" Comic-Con@Home panel featuring fellow filmmakers Robert Rodriguez and Joseph Kosinski, Trevorrow — who is returning to direct the sequel after J.A. Bayona directed Fallen Kingdom — shared his excitement about new technology that allows the production to utilize more practical effects than the other films in the Jurassic World series.

“We’ve actually gone more practical with every Jurassic movie we’ve made since the first one, and we’ve made more animatronics in this one than we have in the previous two,” he said. “And the thing that I’ve found, especially in working in the past couple months, is that we finally reached a point where it’s possible to… digital extensions on animatronics will be able to match the texture and the level of fidelity that, on film, an animatronic is going to be able to bring. And you didn’t use to be able to really mix them. You could really see the seams. And so that part of it is very exciting for me.”

Trevorrow got a little more in-depth about how animatronic dinosaurs can actually assist in creating more realistic digital effects. “[Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom director] J.A. Bayona really, he found the value in creating really photo-real, just beautiful lighting references that could be articulated just slightly. Just a head and a jaw that could move, but painted beautifully, hand-painted. And we do it for all of the dinosaurs now, so when we put it into a space, you can see how the light reacts to the skin. And even if they ultimately do make that a digital animal, there was always something there reacting to the light in that environment … just puppetry in general, just really simple puppetry is proving to be amazing.”

I’m a fan of practical effects, but the digital wizardry at work in the Jurassic World series is undeniably impressive. Whether the animatronic dinosaurs remain in the finished film or are merely used as tools to create more photorealistic creatures, the effects in Jurassic World: Dominion are sure to be pretty mind-blowing.

Check out what Trevorrow had to say below.

For more on Jurassic World, check out star Bryce Dallas Howard showing off some of the bruises she's earned doing stunts for the film.

For more from our Comic-Con@Home panel with Trevorrow, Rodriguez and Kosinski, click here.