It looks like Dr. Ian Malcolm didn’t learn his lesson the first time around. Or the second. According to the Hollywood Reporter, after a 20-year hiatus, Jeff Goldblum is set to reprise his role as the sarcastic but lovable leather jacket-clad mathematician in the upcoming Jurassic World 2, currently slated for a June 2018 release.
It’s been almost 25 years since the original Jurassic Park, which introduced the world to Dr. Malcolm, an unassuming hero who narrowly escapes death-by-dinosaur in both that film and 1997’s The Lost World. But he did not appear in Jurassic Park III (2001) or the most recent installment of the franchise, Jurassic World. The news that Goldblum will be back for the next flick comes after years of hopeful speculation among fans — and more than a few teases.
In an interview with Fandango last year, the actor was asked whether he might consider playing Dr. Malcolm in a future film. In what might be the most Jeff Goldblum response ever, he said, “I’m nothing if not open. I’m like an open-faced sandwich. My door is not always open — I took the door off. I removed the hinges from the door. I’m too open. I’m like a chicken piccata.”
We’ll have to wait another year to see the dashing doctor cracking wise alongside co-stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, whose performances in Jurassic World helped cement the franchise’s future. That movie earned a staggering $1.6 billion at the box office, making it the fourth highest-grossing film of all time. It will be hard to top that, to be sure, but with Dr. Malcolm back in the mix, it somehow seems possible. After all, as the actor himself put it in the same Fandango interview, “what movie doesn’t need a little seasoning of Goldblum?”
Indeed.
In the meantime, Goldblum will be seen in Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok, due out this November. It won’t have dinosaurs, but it will have plenty of that quintessential, smirky Goldblum charm.
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