The Jurassic franchise returned in grand fashion when Colin Trevorrow's hit reboot Jurassic World debuted in 2015, and the beloved film series has officially avoided extinction in a major way. J.A. Bayona's Jurassic World 2 is currently slated to debut in theaters next summer, and production on the project appears to be in full swing. In fact, Jurassic veteran BD Wong recently posted a photo of himself as Dr. Henry Wu on the set of the new film, and he looks equal parts stylish and downright intense in the picture. Check it out below to see for yourself.
Despite the fact that BD Wong has been part of the Jurassic Park/World universe since 1993, the guy has not aged a day since we first saw him in the original film. This photo makes it pretty clear that he is sticking with his dapper aesthetic that we saw in the last movie, which continues to lend the sense that he sees himself as the Steve Jobs of dinosaurs -- turtleneck and all. He seems pretty intense in this picture as well, so maybe being part of two separate failed dinosaur-themed amusement parks has finally started to weigh on his character.
Although that first photo indicated that BD Wong was filming at Pinewood Studios in England (where much of Jurassic World 2 is shooting), he also trekked out to East Berkshire College for some "on location" shooting as well.
It's hard to glean exactly what this college location means for Jurassic World 2's narrative, but one very possible hypothesis is that Dr. Henry Wu is now working as an educator in genetics, or at least giving some sort of academic seminar to a captive audience. It is a logical way to open a film in this franchise, as we saw Alan Grant do the very same thing in Jurassic Park III. All we know at this point is that the tranquility won't last very long once the velociraptors show up.
Based upon everything that we currently know about the overarching plot of Jurassic World 2, it sounds as though BD Wong's Henry Wu will continue to play a massive role in the mythology of the Jurassic universe. The next film in the newly rebooted series of dinosaur films will lean heavily on the thematic premise of animal rights, and how human beings violate those rights for personal gain. In that regard, Wu's opinion of his prehistoric creations in Jurassic World was less than paternal; he knew that his dinosaurs looked nothing like the ones that existed millions of years ago, so he had a very detached attitude towards them. The story of the film is still fairly vague, but it seems highly likely that this will ultimately put him at odds with Chris Pratt's Owen -- a man who approaches the dinosaurs with a far more palpable sense of love and respect.
BD Wong will return as Henry Wu when Jurassic World 2 debuts in theaters next summer on June 22, 2018. And for more on movies opening in 2017, take a look at our schedule.
