Steven Spielberg told Netflix that Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous shouldn’t be a “kiddy version”

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Watch the series on Netflix September 18

(Image credit: Netflix)

When it came to the new animated series Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous, director Steven Spielberg reportedly told Netflix, “Don’t do the kiddy version”.

In an interview with io9, showrunner Scott Kreamer said the director told him" “‘It needs to feel like it’s Jurassic Park. It needs to feel like it’s Jurassic World.’ And we went for it.” 

Camp Cretaceous will be the first-ever Jurassic World animated series and takes place during the events of the first Jurassic World movie. The series centres on six young teenagers attending the opening weekend of Camp Cretaceous on Isla Nublar, and of course, it doesn’t take long for things to go terribly wrong.

“In all the films, the kids are the side characters who need to be rescued by Alan Grant, Owen Grady, or an adult,” Kreamer said. “So the whole idea is: Let’s put kids in the center of the story. Let’s cut off adult help. Let’s make them have no one to count on but each other. And really, that’s just the entire impetus for this story, is let’s empower the kids and see what happens.”

In spite of its PG rating, Kreamer and the team seem to have remained true to Spielberg’s wishes. While the series never shows blood or gore, the teens do watch people get eaten by dinosaurs and things get particularly intense. “I think that we may not do kids a service by sheltering them from all of those things. And I think it actually opens up your world in allowing for more stories to be told if you can incorporate those themes into your stories,” showrunner Aaron Hammersley added.

Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous will be roaring onto Netflix September 18. See what other movies and shows are available this month on Netflix.

Millicent Thomas
Millicent Thomas

Millicent Thomas was once a freelance games and film journalist, writing for publications including GamesRadar, Total Film, Space.com, GamesIndustry.biz, Wireframe, Little White Lies, Culturess, SciFiNow, and more. She is now in international PR and marketing for Ubisoft.