Jurassic World Rebirth star Jonathan Bailey thinks his co-star Scarlett Johansson's character "grounds the whole film": "She feels like somebody who has lived a life"

Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Bailey as Zora Bennett and Dr. Henry Loomis in Jurassic World Rebirth — (Image credit: Universal Pictures)

Jurassic World Rebirth introduces a new cast of characters to the long-running dinosaur franchise, including a new central trio.

There's Zora Bennett, a world-weary covert operative played by Scarlett Johansson, Zora's team leader Duncan Kincaid, played by Mahershala Ali, and Jonathan Bailey's idealistic paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis. Zora is promptly established as a woman with a traumatic past and a no-nonsense attitude to the present, and Bailey thinks she's the action-packed movie's grounding force.

"You want somebody to feel lived in and that they have their stuff that they come with, like we all do," she continues. "I don't want to call it 'baggage', but you come with your stuff, and you're confident in some ways, and you have your own perceived flaws, and you have dreams for yourself, and they're different than they were 20 years ago. And, you know, that [she] feels like somebody who has lived a life."

"I think you get that from the first scene," Bailey adds. "You ground the whole film, right? Because she's had an extraordinary life experience as well – high stakes, perilous – and you totally get it."

"There's a lot in these films that is explosive and moves the plot along, so you don't have that much real estate for character stuff," Johansson continues. "And so when you meet each character in the film, you need the moment to be impactful. And [Henry's] moment is also very impactful, you get a lot of information in a short period of time, and then you can kind of get behind the characters, because you understand what they need."

I’m an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering everything film and TV-related across the Total Film and SFX sections. I help bring you all the latest news and also the occasional feature too. I’ve previously written for publications like HuffPost and i-D after getting my NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.