‘Jurassic Park’ Lego Special Coming to Peacock

A lot about the new special is a mystery for now but will be part of Universal’s recent deal to snag the rights to use Lego products for movies and TV shows.

‘Jurassic Park’ Lego Special Coming to Peacock. Photo courtesy of Peacock.

It is 30 years since ‘Jurassic Park’ sent dinosaurs stomping all over cinema screens, and if you’re someone who saw the original movie in theaters upon release, allow us to commiserate on feeling a little closer to extinction right now.

Naturally, Universal has been celebrating that fact this year, with merchandise and re-releases of the movie into theaters.

And its streaming service Peacock is getting in on the fun, with a planned Lego special that is called ‘Lego Jurassic Park: The Unofficial Retelling’.

Jurassic Park

"An adventure 65 million years in the making."

PG-132 hr 7 minJun 9th, 1993

Watch Jurassic Park Online

What’s the story of ‘Jurassic Park’?

Jeff Goldblum as Dr. Ian Malcolm in director Steven Spielberg's 'Jurassic Park.'

We’re assuming there will be the typical Lego riffs on certain points and characters (as with the ‘Star Wars’ specials), but the phrase “re-telling” leads us to believe that it’ll roughly track the story of Steven Spielberg’s original blockbuster.

In case you’ve been stuck in the cretaceous period and are somehow unaware, ‘Jurassic Park’ is the story of a giant attraction envisioned by billionaire John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), who funds scientific research that invents DNA technology to bring long-extinct dinosaurs back to life. The dinos are intended to be kept safe on an island theme park for the public’s enjoyment.

To assuage the concerns of investors and his legal team, Hammond invites paleontologist Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and paleobiologist Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) to tour the facility alongside chaotician Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum). And to assess the reaction of his main target audience, Hammond has his grandchildren Tim (Joseph Mazzello) and Lex (Ariana Richards) along for the visit.

Thanks to a combination of corporate espionage and hurricane weather, things do not go exactly as planned… It starts with “ooh and aah”, but later there is running and screaming.

Who else is in ‘Jurassic Park’?

Jeff Goldblum as Dr. Ian Malcolm in director Steven Spielberg's 'Jurassic Park.'

The movie’s cast also includes Samuel L. Jackson, Wayne Knight, Bob Peck, Martin Ferrero and B.D. Wong.

It seems unlikely that the original cast will return to voice the special, but you never know –– the poster features Goldblum’s Ian Malcolm (albeit looking more like he does in later movies), but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s lending his unique vocal talents.

Jurassic Park as a franchise

Chris Pratt in 'Jurassic World Dominion.'

‘Jurassic Park’ was a giant hit, and spawned two direct sequels, an entire follow-up trilogy (the ‘Jurassic World’ series of movies) and a T-Rex-sized batch of merchandise, theme park attractions and other spin-offs, including Netflix’s ‘Camp Cretaceous’ animated series.

We suppose a Lego special was really just the next logical step, given how many sets of the toys have been themed to the movie’s dino-tastic story.

Universal and Lego

Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill), Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon) and Kayla Watts (DeWanda Wise) in 'Jurassic World Dominion.''

(L to R) Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum), Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill), Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard), Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon) and Kayla Watts (DeWanda Wise) in 'Jurassic World Dominion,' co-written and directed by Colin Trevorrow.

It’s also been made possible because Universal scored the rights to make movies and TV shows with Lego projects back in February of this year and has a new ‘Lego Movie’ in development (the original few examples were released by Warner Bros.).

It all means that the characters and cameos won’t cross over into the new movie, though given that Chris Pratt also starred in the ‘Jurassic World’ movies, there’s a chance his character Owen Grady could show up in the film, even if he can’t play Emmett from the previous main ‘Lego’ titles.

We don’t yet know when the special will be on Peacock –– the service’s marketing simply says “Coming soon” right now. But since it’s part of the 30th anniversary celebrations, expect it before the end of the year.