Jurassic Park: 10 Supporting Characters With Main Character Energy

From Sam Neill’s Alan Grant to Bryce Dallas Howard’s Claire Dearing, the Jurassic Saga has always excelled with strong leading characters. However, every installment in the long-running franchise has also introduced a plethora of supporting characters who steal the spotlight.

Some supporting characters are even so charming and likable that it’s baffling that they aren’t the star of their own Jurassic movie. So that means this list will not feature any villains but focus on the side characters that are on the journey with heroes such as Ian Malcolm or Owen Grady.

Eric Kirby

The constantly changing production of Jurassic Park III left some characters feeling wasted or even aggravating. One character that deserved more screentime was Eric Kirby, the teenager forced to survive on his own for weeks on Isla Sorna.

Not only does he have the best chemistry with Alan Grant out of all of the Jurassic Park III cast but Eric is a strong survivor. Jurassic Park III could have simply been Eric surviving on his own in a story akin to Cast Away and he’d likely have carried it.

Simon Masrani

In a surprising twist, Simon Masrani was not the cliche evil businessman so focused on money that he causes everyone’s doom. Instead, Masrani is a man trying his hardest to complete John Hammond’s vision in creating the perfect theme park for the family to enjoy the prehistoric creatures.

Though he was a little over-ambitious, especially with the creation of the Indominus Rex, he never intended for all the chaos that ensues. He genuinely cared about the people and the staff in Jurassic World which could have made for a charming and interesting main protagonist. A younger John Hammond-like character trying his best to fix the mistakes of the past and present.

Zach Mitchell

Anybody who has had age gaps between siblings can relate to the secondary plot of Jurassic World between Zach and Gray Mitchell. Two young boys who don’t have much in common and are going through parents having a divorce. It leads to the two not getting along.

Zach is emotionally detached from Gray but he slowly becomes a good brother trying to keep Gray safe from the dangers of Jurassic World. On paper, Zach and Gray could have been the whole movie seeing how the two bond across the film and Nick Robinson giving a strong performance.

Zia Rodriguez

Despite Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom building up Zia as this dinosaur physician with a no-nonsense attitude, she is mostly kept to the sidelines. It’s a shame because Zia Rodriguez shines in every scene that she’s in whether it’s putting Ken Wheatley in his place or saving Blue from a bullet wound.

Not only is she witty but she doesn’t fall into the trappings of a lot of female characters in monster movies. Instead, she’s quick to act on her feet, and even when captured by the villains, she’s hardly a damsel in distress. It’s almost like they were setting her up to be a new main character but so far, she doesn’t seem to be returning for Dominion.

Blue

Jurassic World has fully established that Blue is a very different Velociraptor. Unlike the rest of her Raptor Squad, she was the only infant that showed empathy. Blue is an intelligent animal who can lead her own pack of raptors but she has loyalty to her imprinted father: Owen.

Blue made for some of the best Velociraptor scenes such as working with a T-Rex to take down the Indominus Rex. Blue proves to be a memorable character on her own which could have led to her own story, especially after she escapes into the world. It would have been challenging to make a raptor into a leading role but it’s not impossible.

Eddie Carr

In comparison to Sarah Harding and Nick Van Owen who continuously made situations worse with their actions, Eddie was sensible. He didn’t hate the dinosaurs like Ian Malcolm but he didn’t practically gift wrap himself for them either.

Eddie Carr actually turns into a hero for a whole section of The Lost World: Jurassic Park. When the trailers are going over the cliff, he singlehandedly saves them and the other characters with just his car. Unfortunately, despite being a likable and heroic character, he met his fate in the jaws of the Rexes for one of the franchise’s grisliest kills.

Barry Sembène

Barry is Owen’s partner when it comes to bonding and training with the raptor pack in Jurassic World. His connection was with Delta and sadly, that bond was not explored nearly as much as Owen and Blue. Barry clearly loves the raptors and is not fond of InGen’s interference with the program.

While he was there for when the raptors turn on the humans in favor of the Indominus, Barry just vanished in the final act. Fans look forward to his return with Jurassic World: Dominion where hopefully, he is given more to do and they can showcase the pain of losing the raptors that he loved.

Robert Muldoon

From the opening scene, Robert Muldoon is set up as the hunter-turned warden of Jurassic Park. He has a personal disdain for the raptors, particularly The Big One which is the main dinosaur villain of the first film. However, a movie’s worth of build-up doesn’t really go anywhere when he is immediately killed off in the first encounter with the raptors.

It can be argued that it’s meant to be subverting expectations but it mostly comes off as a waste of a character. Especially since Muldoon is given so much screentime showcasing his gruff hunter personality that could have carried through until the climax.

Lowery Cruthers

Whether it’s playing Nick Miller on New Girl or an older Peter Parker in Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, Jake Johnson is a show-stealing presence. That is no different when he plays a control room employee named Lowery Cruthers who genuinely loves the park but hates the hybrid program.

Every scene features some kind of humorous comment from him but he ends up being the most essential person in the control room. Without him, the T-Rex wouldn’t have been freed to fight the Indominus. It can be argued that Lowery could have led a movie as well, similar to how Ian Malcolm became the hero of The Lost World.

Roland Tembo

One of the best things to come from The Lost World is that not every employee of InGen is inherently evil. Roland Tembo agrees to lead the expedition in wrangling dinosaurs to be transported to San Diego but he’s not like Peter Ludlow. Roland’s motivation is simple: to go on one last big hunt before retiring.

Roland wants to hunt Buck, the male Rex on Island Sorna. He doesn’t want to hurt anyone and he doesn’t really care about money. It would have made for an interesting direction by focusing on an InGen employee who eventually sees the error of his ways and swaps sides. For what he’s given, he proves to be one of the better characters in The Lost World.

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