How Jeff Goldblum's Ian Malcolm Fits Into 'Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom'

For a franchise so steeped in nostalgia, Jurassic World has been fairly light on the cameos from the original Jurassic Park movies. B.D. Wong, who reprised his role as the devious scientist Dr. Henry Wu in Jurassic World, was the only familiar face in the new trilogy — until now.

The appearance of Jeff Goldblum in the new film has been receiving a good share of the hype for the Jurassic World sequel. And why wouldn't it? The chaos mathematician became a pop culture icon with his alluring, half-shirtless turn in 1993's Jurassic Park, and would return in 1997's Jurassic Park: The Lost World. But he isn't likely to make the mistake of a third trip to a dinosaur-ridden island in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.

We've seen Goldblum's Ian Malcolm in each Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom trailer: dignified, grey-haired, and serious, the former rock star scientist warns about the dangers of saving the dinosaurs from Isla Nublar's imminent volcanic eruption. "Life...finds a way," he says, repeating his famously meme-able mantra.

So how big of a role does Ian Malcolm actually play in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom? Producers Frank Marshall and Patrick Crowley revealed how much Goldblum we can expect in an interview with /Film. Marshall said:

"He's very senatorial in this one... He goes to those kind of hearings now and speaks about science and the world and how science can affect the world and how we have to be careful what we wish for. Or just to be able to do something doesn't mean it's right."

But as buttoned-up as Ian Malcolm is now, Marshall says that he is still "very much" that same "scientist-philosopher rock star" we fell in love with. "His character is what he believed in before, he still believes in fervently now," Crowley adds.

Ian Malcolm is pivotal to introducing Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom's main dilemma: save the dinosaurs from extinction or let nature run its course? And much like he posits in the first Jurassic Park, dinosaurs went extinct for a reason. Marshall says that the mathematician is here to somberly remind everyone of that fact:

When the volcano erupts and suddenly we're faced with are the dinosaurs gonna become extinct again, do we save them or do we not? That's the big question that he gets to pose again. And then we go from there, he's very philosophical in the movie. He doesn't come on the trip. But he's sort of an observer of what's been happening. And he speaks about that.

But apart from that Senate appearance, we haven't seen much of Dr. Ian Malcolm at all. Does that mean his appearance will be little more than a cameo? No, Crowley says. Ian Malcolm will "bookend" the movie. "Yeah, he essentially bookends the movie with I warned you and now I told you so," Marshall adds. "Colin from the start wanted him to be the uh oh, danger, I told you so kind of character. As he does so well."

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom hits theaters on June 22, 2018.