Sam Neill Speculates on the Whereabouts of Dr. Alan Grant During 'Jurassic World'

Jurassic World upped the dino-adventure ante by having its rampaging monsters menace an entire amusement park full of innocent patrons. And yet, if Colin Trevorrow’s sequel felt logistically bigger than its predecessors, it nonetheless felt as if it were missing something vital as well: namely, the presence of Sam Neill’s Dr. Alan Grant. Now, the actor has shared his own opinion on the whereabouts of the franchise’s original protagonist.

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Speaking to ShortList (watch the clip above) while doing press for Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Neill gave his own guess as to what Grant has been up to since he was last seen dodging attacking pterodactyls in Joe Johnston’s Jurassic Park III.

“I think the problem is that no one knows where Alan Grant is anymore,” Neill says. “He’s retired from paleontology. He’s sick to death of dinosaurs, and running. He’s not quite as fleet of foot as he was. And he’s now retired to Dayton, Ohio, and he has a very successful accountancy business…I think that’s what’s happened. Either that or he’s dead…No one can find Grant. He’s disappeared. Someone found his hat. His hat was floating on the Hudson River. But that was the last that was ever heard of him.”

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While Neill notes that “the call hasn’t come” about reviving his paleontologist, he does confirm in the interview that he recently completed some brief work on Thor: Ragnarok — directed by Wilderpeople helmer Taika Waititi — which will reunite him with his Jurassic Park co-star Jeff Goldblum. Catch Neill in Hunt for the Wilderpeople now on digital HD, Blu-ray, and DVD.

Watch a clip of Sam Neill and Julian Dennison in ‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople’: