How Many T-Rexes Actually Exist In Jurassic Park

The Jurassic Park franchise has included multiple T-Rexes, with the most famous being one introduced in Steven Spielberg's original film. How many Tyrannosaurus rexes were there in Jurassic Park and Jurassic World's six-film saga? Spielberg launched the Jurassic saga with his 1993 blockbuster and at least one T-Rex has appeared in all six films as well as Netflix's animated series Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous. How many T-Rexes were there in Jurassic World: Dominion? In the sixth and final installment, one T-Rex teams up with the Therizinosaurus, Jurassic World: Dominion's long-clawed dinosaur, in order to dispose of a bigger threat. As a result of these exciting appearances, the Tyrannosaurus rex remains one of the most iconic dinosaurs to feature in the series.

Jurassic Park (1993) originally set the T-rex up as a villain when it attacked a caravan including Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill), Lex Murphy (Ariana Richards), and Tim Murphy (Joseph Mazzello), the grandchildren of Jurassic Park's creator, John Hammond (Richard Attenborough). By the end of the film, however, the super predator inadvertently performs a 'heroic' gesture and saves those same humans from a pack of Velociraptors, essentially turning the T-rex into a 'good guy' for much of the rest of the franchise (with the notable exception of The Lost World). The T-rex has famously battled the Jurassic saga's other massive meat-eaters like the Spinosaurus, the Indominus Rex, and Jurassic World: Dominion's Giganotosaurus. Although T-rex didn't always have the best track record against other apex predators, it remains a key part of the Jurassic Park universe.

Counting the six movies and Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous, there are nine T-rexes in the Jurassic franchise, although only five have been seen on screen. Colin Trevorrow's Jurassic World films have made it a point to give Spielberg's original T-rex its moment in the sun. In fact, 2022's Jurassic World: Dominion's opening scene is a prequel that reveals the original dinosaur bitten by the fly trapped in amber was the T-Rex, from which the dinosaurs were cloned by InGen - John Hammond's genetics company. Therefore, the T-rex in Jurassic Park is the clone of the original T-rex from over 65-million years ago. This essentially makes the venerable T-rex the 'mother' (as all of Jurassic Park's original crop of dinosaurs are female) of all of the dinosaurs in the Jurassic saga.

The T-Rex In Jurassic Park

The Jurassic Park visitors centre scene with a T-Rex

In Jurassic Park, Alan Grant was stunned when John Hammond told him that he has a T-rex in the park. Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park novel had two Tyrannosaurs, an adult and a juvenile, but Spielberg trimmed it down to just the one huge super predator for the movie. The T-rex's thrilling entrance and attack on the humans in Jurassic Park is one of the most unforgettable movie sequences of all time. The T-rex famously ate some of Grant's entourage, including Hammond's "bloodsucking lawyer," and its rampage injured Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum).

However, as the velociraptors emerged as the real threat to Jurassic Park's human cast, the T-rex came to the rescue and saved the day, allowing Grant, Hammond, Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), and the kids to escape Isla Nublar. The shot of the T-rex roaring in the Visitor's Center while the "When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth" banner fell around her remains iconic. The original T-rex would not reappear in the franchise until 2015's Jurassic World.

T-Rex's In The Lost World & Jurassic Park III

Julianne Moore and a T rex in The Lost World Jurassic Park

1997's The Lost World: Jurassic Park and 2001's Jurassic Park III were set on Isla Sorna, the location where John Hammond and InGen actually bred their dinosaurs. The Lost World established that there are actually eight Tyrannosaurus rexes that were bred and lived in the wild on Isla Sorna AKA Site B although the film only showed three: a family unit consisting of an adult male and female and a juvenile. The male T-rex is brought back to the United States where he escaped and memorably rampaged through San Diego before he was recaptured.

Jurassic Park III's Spinosaurus as its supervillain dinosaur and that meant it had to defeat the franchise's previous apex predator, the T-Rex. The Spinosaurus battled and killed a Tyrannosaurus rex in the film. However, the T-rex in Jurassic Park III was a different one from any previously seen, so while audiences were led to believe their beloved T-rex was killed off by the Spinosaurus to 'pass the torch' as the new Big Bad of the franchise, Jurassic Park's beloved original T-rex was actually still on Isla Nublar alive and well.

The T-Rex In Jurassic World

When Masrani Global purchased Isla Nublar and InGen to reopen Jurassic Park as the new and improved Jurassic World theme park, the original T-rex was captured and placed in a paddock. However, as Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) explained in Jurassic World, parkgoers were no longer impressed by the classic dinosaurs, which is why Masrani began breeding hybrid monster dinosaurs like the Indominus rex to ramp up interest in the dinosaur park.

After the Indominus rex got loose and rampaged throughout Isla Nublar, Claire let the original Jurassic Park T-rex loose to fight the bigger more fearsome hybrid. With help from Blue and her pack of Velociraptors trained by Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), the T-rex was able to fight the Indominus Rex and survive long enough for the hybrid monster to fall into the Jurassic World lagoon and get eaten by the Mosasaurus. Afterward, the original T-rex remained loose on the island where it was once again the only Tyrannosaurus rex on Isla Nublar.

The T-Rex In Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous

Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous Season 2 t-rex

Netflix's animated series Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous has run for three seasons (with season 4 on the way) and is canonically set between 2015's Jurassic World and 2018's Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Six teenagers were trapped on Isla Nublar after Jurassic World fell and they spend months on the island trying to survive and ultimately escape. The Campers ran into the T-rex a few times, including trying to sneak into its nest in Jurassic World's main street. While Camp Cretaceous featured the Indominus rex and created a new hybrid dinosaur, the Scorpios Rex, the original T-rex continued its dominance over Jurassic World.

The T-Rex In Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Like all of the dinosaurs in Jurassic World, the T-rex was threatened with extinction by the eruption of Isla Nublar's Mount Sibo volcano. Luckily, the T-rex was one of the dozens of dinosaurs rescued from the island before it was destroyed in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. The prehistoric clones were brought to Lockwood Manor in Northern California to be sold at a dinosaur action. Ultimately, the young clone of Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon) let all of the dinosaurs loose into the world, including the T-rex, which was last seen in a zoo confronting a lion at the end of Fallen Kingdom.

The T-Rex In Jurassic World: Dominion

The Jurassic World: Dominion ending sees the T-Rex reappearing to take on the Giganotosaurus with help from the Therizinosaurus, which is easily the entire saga's biggest and nastiest fight. When Biosyn scientists activate the chip inside every dinosaur in order to call them to the center of the facility during the forest fire, the T-Rex faces off with the Giganotosaurus but is thwarted by the latter's size and strength. The tide of the battle turns when the Therizinosaurus steps in, eventually allowing the T-Rex to give the Therizinosaurus an opening to kill the Giganotosaurus. This is the same T-Rex who was found roaming parts of California and Oregon earlier in the movie.

The Jurassic World Saga Was Really The Story Of The T-Rex

The Jurassic Park/World timeline is filled with several notable dinosaurs, and the T-Rex continues to be the only dinosaur that has not only survived throughout the franchise but has also featured prominently throughout the six-film saga. Indeed, the ancestral rivalries and brute force of the T-Rex have shaped the franchise’s story more than its human characters. Either as antagonists, deus ex machinas, or surprise anti-heroes, viewers are encouraged to actively root for the T-Rexes by the end of each film in which they appear. Its journey is one of being involuntarily wrenched out of non-existence, placed in captivity, saving its own captors more times than not, and eventually finding equilibrium among its own species. It’s probably the best character arc in the whole series, and should Jurassic World 4 get the green light, the Tyrannosaurus rex will no doubt continue to be a lynchpin of this beloved sci-fi universe.

More: Dominion's New Maisie Origin Story Is A Massive Jurassic World Retcon

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