Why Is Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom?

WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, in theaters June 22.

One of the most memorable trailers for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom featured Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) speaking to a congressional committee about the dangers of Jurassic World (the park not the movie). His voiceover and recitation of that famous line was enough to get fans excited for his scene in the latest instalment in the franchise -- but was that the reason for his appearance? Simply to get fans excited?

When Ian Malcolm debuted in Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park in 1993, he was the rockstar-like chaos theorist who spoke out against everything John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) was trying to do with the park and the scientific wonders he had accomplished. Bringing dinosaurs back from extinction required leaps in the world of science and as Malcolm saw it, it had all been done without the effort or thought required to ensure this knowledge would not disrupt the delicate equilibrium that existed on the planet, one that humankind has been threatening with every step forward in science and technology.

When he appeared in Jurassic Park: The Lost World (also directed by Spielberg), he became far more cynical and even slightly regretful, though that didn't stop him from taking on a more active role against mankind's meddling by putting an end to Peter Ludlow's (Arliss Howard) schemes to capture dinosaurs for a theme park. The final act of that film is similar to Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom's (directed by J.A Bayona) in many ways more than just the occurrence of a dinosaur rampage in a developed area. The themes underneath the action are quite similar as well.

But if Jeff Goldblum isn't playing a major role in the film, and if his scenes aren't meant as pure fan service, why, exactly, does he return as Ian Malcolm at all?

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The film reveals that Malcolm's opinion is needed to help the committee decide whether or not to allow the active volcano on Isla Nublar to wipe out the man-made dinosaurs or launch a rescue operation to preserve them. Malcolm explores the question of whether or not these creatures should be treated like every other living organism before issuing a warning against acting without thought and caution. His warning takes place over two scenes, one that marks the beginning of the film's conflict and another marking its conclusion.

The purpose of Goldblum's reprisal becomes clear as his speech leads into the next scene with his statement on cataclysmic change. "Change is like death," he says. "You don't know what it looks like until you're standing at the gates." After this, we see Claire (Bryce Dallas Howar), director of the Dinosaur Protection Group, fighting for the rights of man-made dinosaurs.

It's a deeper exploration into the same theme the franchise has always sought to explore: mankind's conflict with nature. Malcolm, as he has always done, argues that nature should be allowed to act without the intervention of man. In this case, the volcano should be allowed to bring dinosaurs to extinction as the meteor did with actual dinosaurs, millions of years ago. Malcolm argued that we have amassed a huge amount of power but that we've proven ourselves incapable of handling it.

These are the same arguments he made at the table with John Hammond, Ellie Sattler, Alan Grant and Donald Gennaro back in Jurassic Park. The difference is that this time around, his arguments are more than just exploratory in the context of the film, his speech functions as a means for the film to articulate its more prominent themes. This is a franchise that has something to say about the cost of humanity's perceived progress and the necessary effort it takes to endure the consequences, which is what the dinosaurs generally represent in the franchise.

Ian Malcolm's brief return to the franchise represents the Jurassic World trilogy's intention to dive deeper into the largely environmental themes that drove the franchise and Michael Crichton's novels in the beginning. It shows that this is more than just a monster film, it's a warning. That's especially true of the second and final time Malcolm appears in the film, reminding everyone in that committee and the film's audience that "we're causing our own extinction. Too many red lines have been crossed, and our home has-- in fundamental ways-- been polluted by avarice and political megalomania."

Directed by J.A. Bayona, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom stars Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, James Cromwell, Justice Smith, Daniella Pineda, B.D Wong and Rafe Spall. In theatres June 22.