Venerable actor Sam Neill recently shared how he was convinced to return to the Jurassic Park franchise for its final film Jurassic World Dominion. The actor reprises his role as Dr. Alan Grant, the reluctant yet intrepid paleontologist, and joins his surviving Jurassic Park co-stars - Laura Dern as paleobotanist Dr. Ellie Sattler and Jeff Goldblum as mathematician Dr. Ian Malcolm. They join the latest generation of heroes of the popular dinosaur franchise - Chris Pratt as dinosaur handler Owen Grady and Bryce Dallas Howard as former head of InGen, Claire Dearing.

Neill first joined the franchise as the star of the original 1993 blockbuster, Jurassic Park. The film proved to be a massive hit and pulled in nearly $1 billion at the box office, making it the highest-grossing film of all time until it was dethroned by Titanic a few years later. Neill did not appear in the film's sequel, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, but played the lead in Jurassic Park III. Unfortunately, that film was poorly received by both critics and audiences worldwide and nearly killed the franchise. However, the Jurassic franchise was revived with the help of director Colin Trevorrow, who helmed the series' popular 2015 reboot Jurassic World.

Related: Why Sam Neill & Laura Dern Weren't In The First 2 Jurassic World Movies

In a recent interview with The Wrap, Neill shared how he was convinced to return to a franchise he has not been a part of since 2001. The actor admits that when he was first approached to join Jurassic World Dominion, he found it to be a complete surprise, adding, "I made it clear I wasn’t going to come in and do a cameo, they had to commit properly and do my character and the other legacy characters justice, and in that case I’d be happy to join forces." However, Neill explained that Trevorrow surprised him after a film festival in Spain and approached him about the role over lunch. Read what the actor revealed below.

"I got a Lifetime Award at the Sitges Film Festival, which is devoted to fantasy, horror and sci-fi, and stuff like that. And Colin turned up for that and took me out for lunch and basically talked me into it. He was persuasive that all these characters would be central to what happens in the story, they’d have their own storylines and so on."

"Look, I liked him enormously, and also we had two bottles of wine. That helps."

Jurassic World 3 Dominion Sam Neill Alan Grant

Neill understands that a return for his character must be honest and not simply a brief cameo. This just goes to show how appreciative and respectful the actor is of the long-running franchise that, for many, made the star a household name. How successful the film has been in regard to honoring those characters remains to be seen as the film has so far garnered the worst Rotten Tomatoes score for any Jurassic movie.

Before taking the role, Neill undoubtedly remembers the infamously troubled shoot of Jurassic Park III. The actor recently recalled the drama behind the scenes stemming from an unfinished and rushed screenplay that was conceived five weeks before filming and was never actually finished even when the Jurassic Park sequel wrapped production. Regardless of Neill's troubles on that film, he still shows his support for Jurassic Park III and was not dissuaded enough to stay away from the franchise. With Jurassic World Dominion just hitting screens this weekend, only time will tell if the final film of the franchise will be the perfect send-off.

Next: How Much Jurassic World Dominion Cost To Make (& What Box Office It Needs)

Source: The Wrap

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