Ty Simpkins cast as the lead in Jurassic World

Jurassic World has just landed its first official cast member in the form of 12-year-old Ty Simpkins.

That name should be familiar to anybody who’s seen Iron Man 3 – the young actor appeared in the Marvel threequel as a troubled kid who befriends Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr).

Simpkins is the first cast member to be confirmed by Universal Pictures, with rumours still doing the rounds that Jake Johnson ( New Girl ) and Bryce Dallas Howard will also star .

Considering the Jurassic Park films always revolve around kids, it’s entirely fitting that Jurassic World ’s first official player is a youngster – and it’s promising that Simpkins is the one who’s landed the role.

In Iron Man 3 , Insidious and Revolutionary Road , he’s impressed with his maturity and skilfully dodged the ‘annoying Hollywood brat’ pitfalls that many young actors fall into.

And after Insidious , he's surely perfected his 'scared face' for when the dinosaurs inevitably try to eat him.

Jurassic World will be directed by Colin Trevorrow ( Safety Not Guaranteed ) and opens in cinemas on 12 June 2015.

Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.