Jurassic World Sequel Will Be Directed by JA Bayona

Jurassic World is still on track to get a sequel in 2018, because money. (To be fair, the film was actually decent.) But with director Colin Trevorrow signed on to make Star Wars: Episode IX, he’s had to hand over the dino-reins to JA Bayona.

Proud to collaborate with one of my favorite filmmakers on the next Jurassic adventure. JA Bayona, it’s all yours.

— Colin Trevorrow (@colintrevorrow) April 18, 2016

Bayona, a Spaniard, is relatively new to the feature film world, though his two feature-length works, 2007’s The Orphanage and 2012’s The Impossible, have both been well-received by critics; Naomi Watts garnered an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for her performance in the latter. Later this year, we’ll get to see Bayona’s A Monster Calls, starring Liam Neeson, Sigourney Weaver and Felicity Jones. Bayona will direct Jurassic World 2 from a script by Trevorrow and Derek Conolly, while Trevorrow is still onboard as an executive producer.

Welcome to the world of mega-film, JA Bayona. Enjoy raking in more than a billion dollars.