An Oscar Winner Is Making His Way to 'Jurassic World'

Two-time Oscar winnerMahershala Aliis going to help bring theJurassic Worldfranchise back from extinction. TheMoonlightstar is in talks to join the upcoming reboot, which is already set for a release date next summer.The Hollywood Reporterhas the news that the production is wooing Ali as it races towards a production start date next month.

Ali joins a growing herd of cast members set to face off against prehistoric beasts in the latest installment of the venerable science fiction franchise.Scarlett Johansson,Jonathan Bailey,Rupert Friend, andManuel Garcia-Rulfohave been cast in the past few weeks, withThe CreatorhelmerGareth Edwardsset to take the director’s chair. So far, plot details are being kept frozen in amber, but the film is said to be a fresh start for the franchise, with no returning characters from the originalJurassic Parkfilms or the subsequentJurassic Worldtrilogy, which brought in the stars of the former in its latter stages (to no great effect, according to reviewers). Production is slated to begin in London next month, with a release date of June 05, 2025 locked in — meaning the production is going to have to move with the speed of aGallimimus.

What is Mahershala Ali Working On Now?

Since winning dual Best Supporting Actor Oscars 2016 and 2018 forMoonlightandGreen Book, respectively, Ali has become one of the most in-demand actors in Hollywood. Last year, he starred inSam Esmail’s apocalyptic thrillerLeave the World BehindalongsideJulia Roberts, and reprised his voice role as Spider-Man foe the Prowler inSpider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, as well as narrating the nature documentaryChimp Empire. He is next set to play a struggling, unscrupulous author in the Hulu miniseriesThe Plot, and will lend his voice to the stop-motion animated adventureWildwood, as well as returning for the thirdSpider-Verseinstallment,Beyond the Spider-Verse. Ali is also set to headline Marvel Studios' much-delayedBlade, playing the titular vampire hunter, after debuting as the character in a vocal cameo in 2021’sEternals.

The new, as-yet-untitledJurassic Worldfilm will be written byDavid Koepp,who wrote 1993’sJurassic Parkand its sequel,The Lost World: Jurassic Park; he was eaten by a Tyrannosaurus in the latter. It will be produced byFrank MarshallandPatrick Crowleythrough Kennedy/Marshall.Steven Spielbergwill executive produce through Amblin Entertainment, shepherding the franchise he began back in 1993.