Jurassic World 2 will be much darker and scarier says director JA Bayona

Unlike the original Jurassic Park trilogy, which saw director Steven Spielberg helm both the first and second instalments, Spanish film-maker JA Bayona is set to take over said duties from Colin Trevorrow when it comes to Jurassic World's upcoming sequel. Because of that, fans of the franchise will be expecting certain changes between the two reboots and now Bayona has revealed that viewers should prepare themselves for a "darker and scarier" outing.

"Obviously when you have Chris Pratt it will also be very funny. But it will be darker," the A Monster Calls told Scified. "It is a second step in a trilogy, and the second step is always dark as in The Empire Strikes back or The Wrath of Khan, which are the examples you always get.

"The film takes the story where it has never been before. To me it surprised me," he continued. "We are going to places where the saga has never been before and at the same time we are paying tribute to the franchise.

"We will take it a step further. There are things that will happen that people are not expecting and they really are shocking."

Trevorrow, who acts a producer on the follow-up and has been involved in the script, recently opened up about the sequel's themes too, telling Time that the movie will see "the dinosaurs [be a] parable of the treatment animals receive today: the abuse, medical experimentation, pets, having wild animals in zoos like prisons, the use the military has made of them, animals as weapons.

"For that reason, it was clear that it needed to be Bayona who would direct it, in order to have it grow and evolve with his very personal vision."

Also starring Bryce Dallas Howard, who will be reprising her role as parks operation manager Claire Dearing, Jurassic World 2 – which is yet to unveil its official title – is currently scheduled to reach UK cinemas on 8 June 2018. It should be released in the US on 22 June.

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