Discussing Why Kayla Needs A Spin-Off And Claire’s A Role Model with Jurassic World Dominion Stars Bryce Dallas Howard and DeWanda Wise

Jurassic World Dominion is finally available on home release, and the new Extended Cut is the pivotal cut of the film. To celebrate the release, I visited beautiful Malta (where some of the film’s most high octane action sequences were filmed) to chat with the cast, experience the locations, and more.

At the junket, I spoke with Jurassic World franchise star Bryce Dallas Howard along with new addition (and electric scene-stealer) DeWanda Wise about Claire’s massive franchise journey, performing alongside legacy stars, the extensive background (and spin-off potential) of Wise’s character Kayla, Jeff Goldblum’s otherworldly charisma, and more.

[This interview was lightly edited for clarity]

Thank you both for taking time to chat Jurassic World Dominion with me, both of you were genuinely excellent.

Bryce Dallas Howard: Thank you! I’m sorry about the rain. I know we are in beautiful Malta and it’s just started raining.

I don’t think it’s rain, I think the gods are crying because they’re not interviewing you.

DeWanda Wise: I like this interpretation!

BDH: Yeah, that’s what that’s what happened. That’s all.

[For Bryce] Claire is so interesting as one of the key players in the entire Jurassic World trilogy, but she goes through such an evolution—from Operations Manager to by-the-book activist to outside-the-law do-gooder. Talk to me a little bit about her evolution through the series and where you think she ends up at the end of Dominion.

BDH: … an eco terrorist! Yeah, I absolutely love Claire’s journey. She’s an incredibly flawed individual, and yet we get to see this person try very hard to learn and to grow… and yet she still makes mistakes. And yet she still is trying. I think that that’s an important kind of character to model for folks, because we all sort of feel like ‘oh my gosh,’ once we make a mistake…

DW: … It’s over, or I have to be perfect before I try.

BDH: I have to be perfect before I try. And that’s just not the case! Sometimes you mess up in a really, really, really big way, and that doesn’t mean that you can’t make it right. But you, trying to focus on making it right, is going to make it worse, and so therefore just focus on being a part of the solution every day, and reevaluating every single day. I love that about her so much. And, of course, getting to do so much action in every single film. That has kind of grown exponentially, that opportunity from film to film. And, finally, [there’s] Dominion as the most that I’ve ever done.

I actually had the honor of replicating your stunt sequences.

DW: How was that for you?

It was lovely. I stretched first, ready for anything like a professional.

BDH: Yes, good!

DW: Like a professional.

I was like ‘what would Bryce do?’

DW: What would Bryce do?!

BDH: Warm-ups.

Kayla is such a cool new character. And I really thought you had so much like gravitas and charisma, but she’s also really interesting because she pivots from comfortable-in-the-underground to leaving Biosyn entirely. Do you think we’ll be getting a prequel?

DW: I would love… thank you for saying that. Whoa!

BDH: Whoa.

DW: Wait, wait, wait, [simultaneously] what made you think prequel?

BDH: [Simultaneously] What made you think prequel?

There’s stories!

DW: Right? You can feel it, right?

There’s tons of backstory, you can tell.

DW: She was constructed with a ton of backstory! Kayla was constructed, and thought of, and conceived… when you’re thinking, and talking, and trying to introduce a new character to a franchise that is this story and this long, you have to make it feel like there has been an entire life right before this moment, so I’m glad that came across. …

So, Pretty Cool Exclusive is what I’m hearing.

BDH: Nothing is official! Nothing that Universal [confirms]… we have our own personal wish fulfillment for Kayla.

I love it. I do have to ask you: what’s your favorite dinosaur?

BDH: …The answer changes.

DW: That’s why the pause.

BDH: What I will say is my all-time favorite dinosaur is the Brachiosaurus, and it’s because I loved the movie The Land Before Time growing up, and we named our dog Littlefoot.

DW: I will say, for the purposes of this moment, with a true-form Extended Release of the movie, Leonard the Lystrosaurus makes a longer appearance in it, and by learning more about Leonard you learn more about Kayla. And I’m very thankful for that.

I dig that. One more quick question: you both get to spend time with the legacy performers, Jeff Goldblum, Alan Grant, Ellie. What was that like, sharing the screen with them?

DW: … Yeah.

BDH: That’s basically what we were like.

DW: That’s basically like, drop your shoulders, calm down.

BDH: We’re like, ‘Okay, it’s ok.’

DW: ‘You’re cool.’

BDH: They’re human beings. They’re just human.

DW: ‘You’re a cool person. You’re just as cool as Laura Dern. Just as cool as Laura Dern!

BDH: That’s the thing: they’re SO cool. And not cool. Like…

DW: Contrived cool.

BDH: They’re enthusiastic, genuine, playful, mischievous, musical, all of them together, throw a party every day. And we just got to join their party

DW: We got to join the party.

BDH: And it was so much fun, and this is so their movie you know, this is the conclusion of their story.

That’s beautiful. You know, I love Jeff Goldblum so much, but I do slightly resent that I can’t be the coolest Jeff.

DW: There’s no there is no one on planet earth like Jeff Goldblum.

BDH: Because he is not from this planet.

DW: No, he’s not.

BDH: I don’t think he’s from this planet!

DW: He’s otherworldly.

BDH: So I think you are the coolest Jeff, because Jeff is from another galaxy or something.

Who knows his real name? You called me the coolest Jeff, and quite frankly, I’m gonna take that with me.

DW: You should!

BDH: You should, own it!

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Jurassic World Dominion is now available on home video.