IN EARLY drafts of Jurassic Park, the film was meant to end quite differently. And we’ll show it to you.
Screenwriters Michael Crichton and David Koepp initially scripted a finale in which the human survivors, Dr Alan Grant, Ellie Sattler, and the kids, are cornered by a lone velociraptor in the Visitor Centre.
Dr Grant (Sam Neill) was meant to use a crane to knock the raptor into a fossilized Tyrannosaurus skeleton, killing it.
Meanwhile, John Hammond would end the remaining raptors with a shotgun. The plan was to create a finale built around ingenuity rather than one massive dinosaur face‑off.
Spielberg put his main star into the ending
But once filming began and ILM’s revolutionary CGI T Rex sequences began to come together, director Steven Spielberg had a change of heart. He realized the T Rex wasn’t just another dinosaur – it was the star of the movie.
He worried that viewers would feel cheated if the T Rex never returns in the finale.
So he asked Koepp to rewrite the original Jurassic Park ending to bring it back, resulting in the iconic climax. The massive beast crashes through the glass display case in the Visitor Centre and scatters the raptors. It’s thanks to that change that we get the legendary final roar as the “When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth” banner falls behind it.
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Everyone* loves the new ending
According to effects legends like Phil Tippett and Dennis Muren, the original raptor‑only showdown felt “cheesy” and “dumb”.
Spielberg agreed, sayiing: “This is the hero of our movie” when referring to the T Rex.
This late change paid off. The final version places the T Rex front and centre once again – transforming it from a monster into an unexpected saviour. (*Although it’s an ending that GB and AJ both felt was a bit cheesy and weirdly made the scariest, lawyer-killing dinosaur the appreciated hero. Check out the full Rewind podcast episode about that and the rest of the movie).
Why is the ending we got better than the original Jurassic Park ending?
Because it makes the finale not just about survival, but about narrative closure. Humanity is humbled by nature, yet this same force comes to its rescue.
It’s a perfect encapsulation of the film’s theme: “life finds a way”.
So next time you watch the Visitor Centre’s chaos, remember: that final moment wasn’t just an edit – it was evolution.
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