Grant and Sattler, but said that his character was so "anti-child in the first film she needed someone else". He liked how the script handled their break-up, with the two remaining close friends. In an early draft, Grant and Sattler were a couple in the process of splitting up. However, Johnston said: "I didn't want to see them as a couple anymore. For one thing, I don't think they look like a couple. It would be uncomfortable to still see them together. And Laura Dern doesn't look like she's aged for the past fifteen years!" Although Grant has a dislike of children, Neill noted that the character gets along well with the ones he encounters. Of the two Jurassic Park films that Neill had appeared in, his favorite scene was in the latter, when Grant bonds with Eric Kirby and talks about his dinosaur books. Jurassic World series Neill was open to reprising his role for Jurassic Park IV, and was expected to return at one point. However, the project was delayed multiple times, eventually releasing in 2015 as Jurassic World. Neill and Dern do not appear in the film, which introduces new cast members. Colin Trevorrow, the film's director and co-writer, did not want to feature Grant or other original characters without a compelling reason to involve them in the story. Following its release, Neill did not anticipate that he and Dern would return to the film series, given its new direction. He speculated in 2016 that Grant had either died, or had retired from paleontology to pursue accounting: "He's sick to death of dinosaurs and running. [...] How do you recover from all of that stuff? I don't think therapists are trained to deal with post-dino stuff. No. I don't think you get over it. Accountancy would be one way". Neill and Dern eventually reprised their roles for Return to Jurassic Park, a downloadable content (DLC) pack released in 2019 for the game Jurassic World Evolution. The two lent their voices, but had to record their lines separately due to scheduling conflicts. It was also announced in 2019 that Neill, Dern, and Malcolm actor Jeff Goldblum would return in Jurassic World Dominion, which released three years later. It marked the trio's first appearance together since the original Jurassic Park film. Trevorrow returned as director and co-writer, and the actors collaborated with him on their character portrayal. They were