[Editor's note: The following contains spoilers for Jurassic World Dominion.]The Jurassic World series is a juggernaut of a film franchise, but hopefully you’re also aware that there’s a Jurassic animated gem over on Netflix, Camp Cretaceous. The series kicked off in 2020 and began with a group of kids getting the opportunity to attend a super exclusive dinosaur camp on Isla Nublar. The thing is, they’re there when Jurassic World falls and they wind up stuck on the island with the dinosaurs.
At this point, Camp Cretaceous is four seasons in and gearing up for the launch of its fifth and final season on July 21st. Given how much Camp Cretaceous addresses the events of Jurassic World, one can’t help but wonder if the films will ever do the same and acknowledge the existence of certain characters and corporations in play in the show. According to Jurassic World Dominion director Colin Trevorrow, there is connectivity there, but we’ll have to wait for the release of Camp Cretaceous Season 5 to feel the full effect of it.
After discussing how Biosyn zoomed past InGen and became the film franchise’s #1 bioengineering company in Dominion, I asked where Camp Cretaceous’ Mantah Corp fits into this corporate battle. Trevorrow teased:
“That will be answered in Season 5 of Camp Cretaceous. We have an answer. And there is an element of this movie that you may recognize already if you’ve been watching the show, but I don’t think we necessarily maybe do it in the way people might expect we do it, but I think our movies tend to be grounded in hopefully a reality that all of us can feel is tangible and relatable to the world we live in and we tried to take what’s going on in the animated show and connect it in a way that hopefully doesn’t invade too much on our Dominion story.”
While I'm not certain, I do suspect what Trevorrow might be getting at is how Biosyn uses certain technology introduced to the franchise through Mantah Corp, things like the ADP to protect planes from flying dinosaurs and the devices implanted in the dinosaurs that force them to move towards the facility when the emergency protocol is enacted. If this is the case, perhaps the answer Camp Cretaceous Season 5 will offer is that Biosyn bought out Mantah Corp and all of its assets.
One Jurassic World Dominion and Camp Cretaceous Season 5 link we know is there with certainty is the Barbasol can filled with dinosaur embryos that Denis Nedry (Wayne Knight) lost on Isla Nublar after being attacked by the Dilophosaurus. The Camp Cretaceous Season 5 teaser trailer revealed someone holding that Barbasol can and now, in Dominion, we see it on display in Lewis Dodgson’s (Campbell Scott) office. When I mentioned that specific connection to Trevorrow during our interview, he emphasized, “They didn’t reveal who’s holding it.”
Could it be Dodgson himself holding it? It’d make sense. Not only is he the person who introduced the device to the film franchise, but he seems to care quite a bit about it in the new film. While Biosyn Valley is burning, Dodgson makes a point to grab it before fleeing the facility. But, of course, Dodgson meets a similar fate as Nedry, becoming dinner for some Dilophosaurus. So, yet again, the can is lost.
Perhaps the hands holding the can in the Camp Cretaceous teaser are those of any old Biosyn employee retrieving the can for Dodgson, but if Trevorrow made a point to say, “They didn’t reveal who’s holding it,” there must be some major significance to that character which brings me back to Dodgson.
During our interview, I did make a point to squeeze in one more Camp Cretaceous question. Dominion does note that some of the dinosaurs living in Biosyn Valley were rescued from Isla Nublar, so are either of the Ankylosaurus we see in the facility Bumpy? Here’s what Trevorrow said:
“I would like to believe that! Yeah. I care about Bumpy very much. I think it’s one of the most adorable things that’s ever come out of this franchise. I’ll say this, I feel like so much of this movie is about our desire as an audience for these dinosaurs to find peace and to find a home. This has been about animals that have been displaced and now we want them to find a home, we want our characters to find redemption and I think that’s something that, honestly, I feel really good about these three movies in that I think we’ve allowed us to care for these dinosaurs like they’re characters and animals that we know. If I was still a kid, I would definitely have a Bumpy. I kind of do now.”
Looking for more from Trevorrow on Jurassic World Dominion? You can watch our full conversation in the video interview at the top of this article!