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Pretty straightforward: Was the Tyrannosaurus we see at the end of Jurassic World the same one from the original Jurassic Park film?

We know the T-Rex could breed because in The Lost World we see two parents and a baby. However that was on Isla Sorna, not Isla Nublar. So as the question asks, was there any evidence that the original Tyrannosaurus was able to survive that long and successfully put back into captivity?


OG Tyrannosaurus

JP TREX

New Tyrannosaurus

JW TREX

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    i believe in jurassic park 2, they say they exterminated everything on the main island
    – Himarm
    Commented Jul 5, 2016 at 18:06
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    It's in the script - but I don't recall it being heard in the film: "Demolition, de-construction, and disposal of Isla Nublar facilities, organic and inorganic, one hundred and twenty-six million dollars." scifiscripts.com/scripts/jurassic2_thw.txt
    – NKCampbell
    Commented Jul 5, 2016 at 18:12
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    @Himarm The book Jurassic Park had the island firebombed at the end, but the movie (as filmed, not looking at the script) did no such thing.
    – user31563
    Commented Jul 6, 2016 at 15:00

3 Answers 3

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Yes

The film's director, Colin Trevorrow confirmed explicitly that she's the same dino seen in Jurassic Park in a few different interviews.

The T. Rex in this movie is the same T. Rex from ‘Jurassic Park,’” said director Colin Trevorrow, who also co-wrote the much-hyped fourth film inspired by the work of author Michael Crichton. “She’s been on the island for 22 years. She’s still alive. She’s a little older, and she’s angry.”

‘Jurassic World’ is open at last, but safety isn’t guaranteed

and

CT: The T. rex that’s in the film is the T. rex from the original Jurassic Park. She is 22 years older. But she’s not limping around.

Q. Will audiences immediately recognize that it’s the same–?

CT: I hope so. Yeah. I mean, we took the original design and obviously, technology has changed. So, it’s going to move a little bit differently, but it’ll move differently because it’s older. And we’re giving her some scars and we’re tightening her skin. So, she has that feeling of, like, an older Burt Lancaster. And this movie is her Unforgiven.

Original T. rex Returns in ‘Jurassic World,’ This Film “Is Her Unforgiven”

and

CT: See, we do have returning characters from the first film, they just aren’t human. We have him and we have the T. rex and I consider the T. rex to be the hero of the first movie. We do bring him back.

Q. So that’s the same T. rex from the first movie?

CT: Yeah, you’ll see that the scars that the raptors gave her at the end of the first movie are still on her now.

‘Jurassic World’ Director Colin Trevorrow Explains Why He Won’t Be Making Another ‘Jurassic World’

As did the film's 'Digital Creature Model Supervisor', Geoff Campbell

Q: Did you put any kind of effort into trying to maintain the feel of dinosaurs from previous installments of the franchise?

GC: Most of T-rex shots in the original Jurassic Park were digital models although there were the Stan Winston practical models for a number of closeup shots. But even starting from the original ILM digital model posed a number of challenges.

The first was maintaining the look and feel of the original T-rex while aging her 23 years. We didn’t have access to the original molds or castings which were all in LA but we did have a four foot original casting that had been made for us back in 1992 and which sits on display in our San Francisco studio. I made a suggestion that we scan that model as a starting point for recreating the Winston mode.

...

We now had our version to match the original Jurassic Park T-rex but we needed to age her 23 years to bring her into the present day. Tim and Glen suggested that we take into account that she’d been incarcerated in a theme park for all those years and her muscles would have atrophied somewhat. We also considered that she would be showing signs of stress, but most of all she needed to remain recognizable as the heroic, statuesque T-rex from the original movie. I think the most surprising reference we received was from Colin, who sent us shirtless images of an aging Iggy Pop wearing a pair of faded cut off blue jeans. What was interesting in that reference was the sinewy, veiny nature of his skin since he had practically zero body fat. Steve used that as his guide and did an excellent job aging T-rex while keeping her muscular and easily identifiable as the T-rex we all know and love.

Interview: ILM on Jurassic World


To back this up, the viral website site constructed to market the Jurassic World film speaks to how the T.Rex seen in Jurassic Park ("Rexy") was captured.

OWNER: HOSKINS
VIC DATE: 04/19/2002 1910 CST
SUBJECT: WEEK 3

NOTES: I WAS IMPRESSED WITH THE TEAM TODAY. HELL, STARING A SEVEN TON PREDATOR IN THE EYES IS NO EASY JOB. THESE THINGS ARE BIGGER THAN YOU'D EXPECT! LET'S JUST HOPE TIMACK KNOWS HOW TO BUILD STRONG PADDOCKS.

And the film's official tie-in website article on the T.Rex confirms that the dinosaur has been on the island for 25 years (i.e. prior to the construction of Jurassic World).

T. REX KINGDOM

It's T. rex's world—the rest of us are just visiting it. Venture into the Jurassic- sized viewing area to see the legendary predator in her natural domain. After all, she's been living on Isla Nublar for over twenty-five years! Feedings are scheduled every two hours.

Warning: This attraction may be too intense for children and some adults.


It's worth noting that the visual effects modelers took the time to add scarring to the older T. Rex that matches the wounds inflicted by the raptors in the final scenes of Jurassic Park

enter image description here

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    @Skooba In the original Jurassic Park novel, the island gets nuked, unless I'm mis-remembering. Not sure novel confirmation is what you wanna go for here.
    – jpmc26
    Commented Jul 5, 2016 at 21:10
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    @jpmc - "The helicopter gained speed as it headed toward the mainland. It was cold now, and the soldiers muscled the door closed. As they did, Grant looked back just once, and saw the island against a deep purple sky and sea, cloaked in a deep mist that blurred the white-hot explosions that burst rapidly, one after another, until it seemed the entire island was glowing, a diminishing bright spot in the darkening night." - Not nukes, just conventional explosives (and plenty of them). Not enough to destroy an entire island though...
    – Valorum
    Commented Jul 5, 2016 at 21:35
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    The arms of a T-Rex always look a bit puny in pictures in movies. I once had a chance to see a life sized model of an adult T-Rex, and realized that those 'puny' arms were larger than my legs. Commented Jul 6, 2016 at 1:05
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    Feel compelled to note that Burt Lancaster was not in Unforgiven. He was in a movie called "The Unforgiven," but he was still young then. Clint Eastwood starred as an old man in Unforgiven. Feels like a google error by Colin Trevorrow. Commented Jul 6, 2016 at 13:54
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    @MichaelStern ... and a pretty unforgiveable one, too. :)
    – Jules
    Commented Jul 6, 2016 at 21:56
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I'd have to look to find sources, but yes, it's the original T-Rex. They made a big deal about it coming back, along with Wu, the doctor from the first movie who was hatching the baby velociraptors.

I'd heard about it before hand, so I was looking for it. They said she'd be older and you can tell that she's scarred up some and is more grey in color than previously. There were other easter eggs, such as an homage to Dr. Ian Malcom that I think everyone will recognize, a return to the original building from the first movie, and several others I picked out. I did binge watch the first three before going to see the movie, though.

Just do a google search for Jurassic World T-Rex Returning and you'll have all kinds of sites popping up to talk about it. She is the original.

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  • Wasn't Wu gutted by a raptor? Commented Jul 5, 2016 at 20:44
  • I must have missed the homage to Dr. Ian Malcolm, or else I've forgotten it. Mind mentioning what it was?
    – Wildcard
    Commented Jul 5, 2016 at 23:57
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    @Wildcard - You see his book in several scenes
    – Valorum
    Commented Jul 6, 2016 at 0:05
  • @CodesInChaos Did that happen in the book? In the movie though he just leaves the island before the storm with the other none-essentials.
    – BPugh
    Commented Jul 6, 2016 at 0:50
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    A good answer should have references, quotes, or links to articles backing this up, not just "i've heard that it was; you can google it."
    – phantom42
    Commented Jul 6, 2016 at 12:16
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Yes the T-Rex was the same one from Jurassic Park, you could easily tell because at the end of Jurassic World; when she walked up the helicopter pad; the camera spun all around and you saw the white scars clearly reflected from the suns light which showed the scars also if she survives long enough. she will have INDOMINUS REX scars too! Then she will the be the Mighty T-Rex!

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