That Wild Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous Ending Is 100% Canonical

Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous has bitten off more than we expected it to chew. The first season ended on a surprising cliffhanger, one that might change the way you look at Fallen Kingdom or other films in the franchise. Is this a one-off thing, or a bona fide part of the Jurassic World universe now? According to the showrunners, it’s totally canon.

“That’s what I’m telling you. That’s exactly what I’m telling you,” showrunner Scott Kreamer told io9.

The eighth and final episode of Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous season one, “End of the Line,” sees five of our campers trying to make their way to the docks and escape Isla Nublar before all the boats leave. This came after one of their fellow campers, Ben, fell to his supposed death after a fight with some pterodactyls—and the other kids chose to leave him behind instead of looking for him. Like I said in my review, this children’s show is intense.

The kids manage to injure the Indominus Rex in a final showdown, giving them the opportunity to run to the docks. They arrive, only to discover: the boats are gone. They’ve all been left behind. The season ends with Darius giving a voiceover about how he and the other campers are going to work together to survive the dangers of Jurassic World, no matter what.

For those keeping score at home, this means that between the events of Jurassic World and (presumably) Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, there were six teenagers living alone on Isla Nublar. Abandoned. Claire Dearing might have been busy making posters for her Save the Dinosaurs campaign but was conveniently ignoring the six well-connected and privileged children she left there to die. In an interview with io9, Kreamer confirmed this is exactly what’s going on.

“That is the conceit of the show, that when the U.N. quarantine is put into place, six kids got left behind and we get to find out what happens to them,” Kreamer said. “This is considered canon. The director of Jurassic World, Colin Trevorrow, was very involved, continuously—as far as story, as far as canon, and as far as designs. All sorts of things. Everything that’s onscreen was approved by Colin, and Frank Marshall, and Steven Spielberg. So yes, this is considered full canon.”

Netflix has not renewed Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous for a second season yet, but Kreamer and showrunner Aaron Hammersley already have ideas for where they want the story to go in the future. Some of the more interesting things involve Ben, who we found out at the very end of the season was actually alive. Getting abandoned by your friends isn’t something you easily forget, and Kreamer noted how “the events of the season would have a definite effect on Ben and his personality, and his worldview.”

But overall, it’s seeing what will happen to these kids now that they’re completely on their own. Will they form their own Land of the Lost team, or will it become a Lord of the Flies situation? “It’s an interesting idea of, you know, ‘We’re abandoned here. It’s just the six of us. Now, how do we survive?’ There are so many stories you can tell—how to get off the island, how to survive on the island. Are they the only ones left on the island?” Kreamer said. “There are many ways that the story can possibly go, with what’s going to happen next with our campers.”

Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous season one is currently available on Netflix.

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