‘Jurassic World: Chaos Theory’ Takes a Lot of Swings that Made People ‘Nervous’

The showrunners tell IndieWire about mixing '70s conspiracy thrillers with killer dinos in the animated follow-up to "Camp Cretaceous."

No matter what anyone tells you, the first “Jurassic Park” is a horror movie. There are big monsters chasing and killing people, several terrifying set pieces, and plenty of maiming and killing: It is a horror movie, just one that the whole family can watch. After Steven Spielberg departed the director’s chair, however, the franchise slowly toned down the horror with each new entry, until now. Give it to an all-ages cartoon to bring the scares back to the franchise in “Jurassic World: Chaos Theory,” a Netflix animated series that finds kids on the run from a dark conspiracy, assassin raptors, and a dinosaur that killed one of them already.

“We’re trying to tell a different type of story for ‘Jurassic’ and a different type of story for so-called children’s animation as a whole,” showrunner and executive producer Scott Kreamer told IndieWire. “We harken back to the original a lot, and that’s an all-ages horror movie. It’s definitely going to be too scary for some, and we made a lot of people nervous with the line that we were treading when we first started going.”

While “Camp Cretaceous” never shied away from showing its protagonists — a group of six kids left behind on Isla Nublar during the events of “Jurassic World” — in peril, or even having the bad guys killed by dinosaurs, “Chaos Theory” is much more graphic (without actually showing blood) in its depiction of dinosaurs eating people. This is mostly due to the fact that the kids are now targeted by a pack of killer atrociraptors, first introduced in “Jurassic World Dominion” as raptors bred and trained to be hunters. If you thought the velociraptors in the first “Jurassic Park” were scary, you might reconsider after watching how relentlessly and coldly these atrociraptors chase the “Nublar Six” all across America.

That’s right, America. This show takes place after the events of “Fallen Kingdom” which ended with dinosaurs escaping on the mainland and wreaking havoc everywhere they go. There are packs of triceratops blocking traffic on the highway, compsognathus fighting over food in the middle of the road — and a T-Rex or two doing whatever they want because they deserve it. This provides as much of an opportunity as it does a challenge. While seeing the main characters escape from dinosaurs in more urban areas is thrilling — like when a suchomimus sneaks into a gated community supposedly free of dinosaurs — the fact is that there are way fewer dinosaurs on the mainland than there were on Isla Nublar. “It’s not like there’s no dinosaurs at at every 7-Eleven,” Kreamer said. The challenge was finding ways to craft set pieces where the writers could fit a dinosaur (or several) while making sure they didn’t feel shoehorned in. “That’s why this show basically takes place around the same region of the American West.”

“Chaos Theory” doesn’t just show dinosaurs interrupting humans’ daily lives but also the psychological effect of knowing there are giant, prehistoric monsters that could kill you at any moment. One of the most fascinating aspects of this show is the introduction of “dino immersion therapy,” and a whole community designed for people who face their fear of dinosaurs. “‘Dominion’ has this sort of top-down view of dinosaurs amongst people; this gave us a chance to really tell a more personal story about what it’s like for people to live alongside dinosaurs and cope with that disruption of their daily lives,” showrunner and executive producer Aaron Hammersley explained.

Much like “Camp Cretaceous,” the new animated show is as much about facing dino danger as it is about character drama. The first show always understood the importance of having characters take a second and talk things through, telling each other how they felt and airing out their issues. “Chaos Theory” picks up after the characters have been apart for years and they’ve matured, as have their stories. We see Darius essentially run away from his problems and live alone in a cabin in the woods, while Yasmina retreats to a community designed to help with her PTSD from spending so many months on a dinosaur island. “They are not kids, but still not totally adults, so we try to ground all this in as much emotional truth as we can — in between running from dinosaurs,” Hammersley said. Even when the characters are together, though, healing isn’t easy. After all, their relationships were born out of trauma, and after years apart, they have to rebuild, with “Chaos Theory” showing that rectifying the damage done to these relationships isn’t easy or quick, but a rather messy, awkward, and slow process. “We like thrusting characters that aren’t prepared for some of these bigger emotional challenges and seeing how they respond.”

In addition to running from dinosaurs, the Nublar Six also have to face the loss of one of their own, as well as a dark conspiracy that goes all the way to the top. As Kreamer said, he initially dismissed returning to the world of “Jurassic World” after having told a complete story in “Camp Cretaceous,” but it was during a meeting with executives from Universal when they broke down the plot of “Jurassic World Dominion” that he got the idea that would eventually become “Chaos Theory.” Specifically, it was the idea that the Department of Fish and Wildlife would have jurisdiction over dinosaurs in America. “Well, that’s probably what Darius would do,” Kreamer recalled thinking. That thought led to the idea of doing something surprising, like Darius quitting that job and hating dinosaurs now. What could possibly cause that? Well, the death of a friend, specifically Brooklynn. “She was asking questions at the very end of the previous show,” the showrunner said.

Though “Camp Cretaceous” included plenty of intrigue and conspiracies from rival companies looking into using dinosaurs for nefarious purposes, “Chaos Theory” uses a different approach. “I love ’70s conspiracy thrillers,” said Kreamer, citing “Parallax View,” “All the President’s Men,” and “Three Days of the Condor” as big inspirations for this show. “There’s a lot of suspended tension that I wanted to bring to this show.” Indeed, not only is the tone of the cartoon much darker than its predecessor, but it takes its time, too. “This is one of the big swings we took, and that made some folks nervous. We really wanted to take our time in scenes and really build tension, mood, and tone.”

Like its predecessor, “Jurassic World: Chaos Theory” fills in many blanks from the movies, like showing how the different operations to sell dinosaurs abroad got started and worked under the radar, as well as the fight between bioengineering companies that eventually led to Biosyn building another park in Malta in the latest of the live-action movies. “It felt like this was the right time to do that sort of slow burn,” Hammersley said. “If we’re going to tell this story, then we really want to pace this in a way that feels brooding and more tense.”

“Jurassic World: Chaos Theory” is now streaming on Netflix.