Goodbye, Jenna Ortega.
A brand-new Jurassic World sequel is imminent, and we aren’t talking about the upcoming movie Jurassic World 4 (2025). Later this month, the new animated series Jurassic World: Chaos Theory(2024) will premiere on Netflix, the follow-up to Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous (2020 — 2022). Showrunner Scott Kreamer has promised a darker series, but things have already taken a bleak turn before the series premiere.
Unfortunately, global sensation Jenna Ortega (Scream, Wednesday, and Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice), who voiced the teen vlogger Brooklynn in all five seasons of Camp Cretaceous, has officially exited the Jurassic World franchise. As a result, the beloved character she played has been killed off, which is revealed right at the very beginning of the latest trailer for the new series. Check it out below,per Jurassic World YouTube:
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Though Deadline already announced Jenna Ortega’s exit when the above trailer dropped a couple of weeks ago, some additional confirmation comes straight from the horse’s mouth, as Chaos Theory showrunners Scott Kreamer and Aaron Hammersley have revealed that Brooklynn is definitely dead in the series and also gave the reason behind the star’s surprise exit.
In an exclusive interview with IGN in which they discuss a new clip from the series that showcases a form of “holographic immersion therapy” (holographic dinosaurs) designed to “expose people to their fears of dinosaurs” now that they’re roaming around in the human world (the series takes place between Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and Jurassic World Dominion), the two showrunners were asked to elaborate on why Brooklynn was chosen to be struck off in the upcoming series and why Jenna Ortega decided not to return.
Here’s Scott Kreamer’s full response:
“Once the show concept started forming and given where we left off at the end of Camp Cretaceous, it was apparent that Brooklynn would be the member of the ‘Nublar Six’ who’d be poking around and asking questions that some shadowy figures wouldn’t want answered. We had originally hoped Jenna [Ortega] would be able to return to the role since we do see Brooklynn on video and in flashback during the season, but her busy schedule becoming a global mega-star made it impossible.”
Of course, Kreamer is referring to Ortega’s huge rise in popularity over the past two years since Camp Cretaceous ended after five seasons. 2022 saw her play Tara Carpenter in the slasher “re-quel” Scream (2022), and in that same year she donned the black pigtails as Wednesday Addams in the global Netflix hit Wednesday (2022 — present).
Related: Jenna Ortega’s Hit Netflix Series Reveals First Clip for New Season Following Star’s Exit
Last year, Ortega was back as Tara Carpenter in Scream VI (2023) but shewon’t be returning for the upcoming Scream VII (TBA). However, she will be reprising her role as the titular Addams Family teen in Wednesday Season 2, and, among many other big-screen projects, will also be appearing in the long-awaited sequel Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice (2024)later this year.
It’s plain to see that Ortega has enough on her plate without hitting the recording studio to play Brooklynn again, as sad as it is to see her exit a mega-franchise like Jurassic Park/Jurassic World, which is bigger than Scream, Wednesday, and Beetlejuice combined. It’s also pretty depressing to know that the infectious teen vlogger Brooklynn has been killed off, even though she will appear throughout the season via flashbacks and video footage.
IGN also noted fans’ complaints about Camp Cretaceous “not putting its protagonists in true mortal danger,” to which Hammersley jokingly replied, “Not enough mortal danger, huh? Well, how about this — Brooklynn’s dead! Happy now?! Look what you made us do! Now excuse me while I collapse into a fetal position and cry in my office.”
So, there you have it — Brooklynn is unequivocally dead and Jenna Ortega is not coming back.
As out-of-the-ordinary as it seems for the Jurassic franchise to kill off a main character (no good guy has ever survived one installment in the series only to be killed off in a subsequent one before), this will lend to Chaos Theory‘s darker tone as Kreamer previously told Entertainment Weekly that the new series is “tonally closer to the end of the Harry Potter movies than the beginning.”
Related: After Seemingly Exiting Hit Netflix Series, Jenna Ortega Becomes New Batgirl
Here’s the official synopsis for Chaos Theory:
Set six years after the events at Camp Cretaceous, members of “The Nublar Six” are struggling to find their footing off the islands, navigating a world now filled with dinosaurs and people who want to hurt them.
Reunited in the wake of a tragedy, the group comes together only to find themselves on the run and catapulted into a global adventure to unravel a conspiracy that threatens dinosaur and humankind alike and finally learn the truth about what happened to one of their own.
Jurassic World: Chaos Theorystars Paul-Mikél Williams (Darius Bowman), Sean Giambrone (Ben Pincus), Kausar Mohammed (Yasmina “Yaz” Fadoula), Darren Barnet (Kenji Kon), and Raini Rodriguez (Sammy Gutierrez).
It streams on Netflix on May 24. Camp Cretaceousseasons 1 — 5 and the interactive adventure experienceHidden Adventureare now streaming onNetflix.
There are currently four Jurassic Park/Jurassic World sequels in development, including Chaos Theory and Jurassic World 4 (2025).
Will you be watching Jurassic World: Chaos Theory? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!
