This summer’sJurassic World Dominionhad a lot to live up to. Between concluding plot threads from the first twoJurassic Worldfilms to bringing back beloved returning characters from the originalJurassic Parkin a fresh and exciting way, there was a lot ofpressure riding onColin Trevorrow’s gigantic third act. Of course, audiences everywhere were pretty split on how well they thoughtDominionmet their expectations, though this author generally enjoyed the movie and would certainly go see it again (come on guys, there’s dinosaurs!). Yet, above anyone else in the thirdJurassic World, there is one character that the film seemed to fail when compared to the rest of our dinosaur-loving heroes: Maisie Lockwood.
Don’t misunderstand,Isabella Sermondid an excellent job as Maisie. Thankfully, she had a bit more screentime inDominionthan she did in the film’s predecessor, which only helped us to care more about the character in the long run. In fact, for as many leads asDominiontries to smash together, the thirdJurassic Worlddoes a great job of balancing its characters and their respective story arcs. Though, no matter how well you juggle individual storylines, if you don’t pay off what’s come before, it can all be for nothing. While Maisie’s storyline certainly doesn’t amount to nothing - her newfound family in Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) and Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) is a beautiful addition to theJurassicmythology that keeps in tradition withSteven Spielberg’s original outings — it doesn’t exactly take us anywhere we haven’t already been before.
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Maisie’s role in the previous installmentJurassic World:Fallen Kingdomwas the film’s biggest unexpected twist. As she uncovered the secrets of her grandfather Sir Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell), who was John Hammond’s (Richard Attenborough) old business partner, she was the first to discover that just beneath their home laid a dinosaur laboratory, holding facility, and an illegal poaching/auctioneering operation. Of course, it wouldn’t be long before she discovered something even more controversial, that she wasn’t Lockwood’s granddaughter at all but rather a clone of Lockwood’s own daughter whom he had lost years ago. This is why Lockwood and Hammond initially split their partnership before the originalJurassic Park(Hammond didn’t agree with human cloning), and what gave Maisie a deeper connection to the dinosaurs, who themselves are also technically genetic clones. It’s in this context that Maisie sets the dinosaurs free into the world, believing herself to be just like them (just, you know, without razor-sharp teeth and scales).
Now, the idea that reengineering dinosaurs into existence could have such severe consequences on human genetics is one of the most interesting things to have ever been explored in eitherJurassictrilogy, and one that this author had waited a long time to see. As Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) said in the very firstJurassic Park, “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.” The inclusion of Maisie Lockwood into the greaterJurassicmythology is something to be celebrated and explored, as there are so many potential scientific, societal, and social implications of such a person’s existence (just like there would be with dinosaurs themselves). Going into the thirdJurassic Worldinstallment, there was certainly a lot of potential.
But thenJurassic World Dominionretconned Maisie’s origins with a twist that would make characters from DC or Marvel Comics proud. Rather than being a direct clone of Sir Lockwood’s daughter Charlotte (Elva Trill), the series’ primary antagonist Dr. Henry Wu (B.D. Wong) explains that Charlotte wanted a child more than anything and genetically enhanced herself so that she might be able to reproduce on her own, asexually. Thus, Maisie was born, voiding her status as an illegal genetic clone. Charlotte did die though, as the previous film stated, due to a rare disease she tragically discovered too late. Thankfully, she was able to rewrite Maisie’s cells in time so that her daughter wouldn’t succumb to the same disease she would.
This revelation causes Maisie to go through a very similar arc to her story inFallen Kingdom, where she once again identifies with a dinosaur - this time the Velociraptor Blue’s own child Beta, who just so happens to also be a product of asexual reproduction via enhanced genetics - and eventually sets it free in the wild, symbolically freeing herself from her past. If her journey to discovering this new truth feels exactly like what she did in the previous film, it’s because it is, just a little more rushed and with more unbelievable science than we’ve seen in this franchise before (and this is a series that brings dinosaurs back to life!).
Instead of a victory lap around Maisie’s origins, it would have been easy to send her on a mission to discover what Dr. Lewis Dodgson (Campbell Scott), a character who only made a brief cameo in the originalJurassic Parkfilm and the latest film’s primary antagonist, had been planning for both the dinosaurs and the world, which would tie in nicely to her meeting with Doctors Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern). Or, maybe Maisie could have used her time at Biosyn to focus on training Beta based on what she’s seen Owen do with Blue, which would fit well with the film’s climax when Owen, Grant, and Maisie find the raptor and sedate her. No matter which direction Maisie could’ve gone inDominion, it’s clear that reviewing (and rewriting) where she came from didn’t add anything new or particularly interesting to her story, leaving her with nothing to do but the same old thing.
Of course, what’s initially interesting about Maisie is her own journey of self-discovery. Learning who, or what, she is only better helps her attain the agency she so desperately reaches for. Her grandfather’s death inFallen Kingdomonly sparked that on further, but it was a drive that was in her from the first moment we saw her on-screen. There’s no doubt that Maisie initially felt alone given her status as a clone of a dead girl she never knew, but once she took back the power in her own life (and for the lives of the dinosaurs trapped beneath Lockwood Manor), she walked off into the sunset with a new family who would never leave her. This was the end of Maisie’s journey to discoveringwho she was, with the unspoken promise that her next steps would be decidingwho she wantsto be.
Now, Maisie taking back agency over her own life makes a lot of sense, and this is where her arc inJurassic WorldDominiontruly thrives. Her struggles to stay hidden from the world, clashing with her new adoptive parents, and even getting kidnapped as a result all work in the third film to push the plot forward and create engaging drama. It especially works since she learns (albeit the hard way) why Owen and Claire have the rules regarding her that they do, while also helping her parents to recognize that they can’t keep her hidden from the world forever. If Owen and Claire represent the classic struggle of being a parent, then Maisie represents what it’s like being a child, particularly a teenager. While this might be terribly on the nose, it really and truly works, sparking an intense emotional response as we watch these three reunite near the end. It’s arguably some of the best stuff in the franchise.
As stated before, what could easily have been a coming-of-age journey for the young clone just turned into a rehash of her origins. In the process, the thing that made Maisie special in the first place - being the first successful human clone - turned out to be a lie. Well, not totally a lie, the movie seems to imply that she’s still sort of a clone of Charlotte Lockwood, just one that was grown inside her mother’s womb (you know, like most human beings). This is where Maisie’s story inDominionfalls apart as it forces her (and us as the audience) to relive what she had already been through, and, even more than that, what she’s already learned. This is truly the biggest disservice to Maisie Lockwood, that her exceptional arc from the secondJurassic Worldwas simply retooled and retold again the second time around rather than spending more time exploring her other gifts, wants, or dreams. Instead of learningwhoMaisie is deep down, we again only learnwhatshe is.
WhileJurassic World Dominiondoes a lot right when it comes to its main characters - from the Grant/Sattler romance to Owen and Claire’s journey as parents to newcomer Kayla Watts' (DeWanda Wise) solid redemption arc - it leaves a lot to be desired for others. There’s certainly still a lot of potential for Maisie Lockwood in the future, and maybe one day we’ll see the character return in the inevitableJurassic Worldreunion. But until then, if you wanted toreadmore about Maisie and her adventures,Tess Sharpe’s middle-grade novelsJurassic World: Maisie Lockwood Adventuresare all about her time betweenFallen KingdomandDominion. Although we show up to theJurassic Worldfilms for the dinosaurs, we ultimately stay for the characters that we love, and there’s no doubt that - despite her ever-changing origins - Maisie Lockwood is now one of them. Hopefully, they can fix her story the next time around!
