The next Jurassic World film has just taken another giant stomp in the right direction. Reported in early March by online film pundit Jeff Sneider, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed Monday that Scarlett Johansson is officially in talks to lead director Gareth Edwards’ new entry in the Jurassic franchise.

The details of the possibility of the Oscar-nominated Johansson joining the project come with news that Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence passed on the next installment.

Since information on the project first came out in January, it’s become clear that Universal Pictures is in a rush to ensure the film makes a targetted release date of July 2, 2025. Not long after the original announcement came, reports came out that David Leitch, director of Universal’s upcoming action flick, The Fall Guy (2024), would be the studio’s choice to helm the film. Less than a week later, it broke that those talks fell through, which led to the hiring of Edwards mere weeks after.

The casting of Johansson as the film’s lead would not only continue setting it on the right path to begin production in Summer 2024 but also add another element of prestige to the project. David Koepp, the writer of the original Jurassic Park (1993), was announced to be returning to write the new entry, which spiked interest from the beginning. Garreth Edwards’ latest film, The Creator (2023), just came off of attending the Academy Awards as a double nominee in the sound and visual effects categories. 

Johansson is one of the most beloved actresses of this generation who has garnered millions of fans by starring in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the character Black Widow. Outside of her franchise work, she has proven herself time and time again as one of the best actresses of her generation, receiving two Oscar nominations in the same year for her work in Jojo Rabbit (2019) and Marriage Story (2019). If anything indicates the project has the potential to be something special, it will be Johansson signing on to star in it.

The Jurassic World trilogy, starting with Jurassic World (2014) and ending with Jurassic World: Dominion (2022), made $3.97 billion, proving Jurassic Park is one of Universal’s most lucrative franchises. With the upcoming installment supposedly having few ties to the last three films starring Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, who are reportedly not expected to return, only time will tell if the studio will have another hit on their hands or a big steaming pile of dino dung.

Update Courtesy of Evan Miller

Feature Image Courtesy of SlashFilm