Decades after Universal abandoned an animated “Jurassic Park” television sequel, footage believed to be its pitch trailer has emerged publicly.

On October 31, 2026, two fans independently posted near-identical clips on social media. The material appears to come from the canceled ’90s project, showing Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler returning to Isla Nublar and once again confronting an island populated by dinosaurs.

Chris Pugh identified the proposed series as “Escape From Jurassic Park,” saying it was in development in 1993 and was canceled before full production despite substantial work having already been completed, including a pitch trailer. A second poster, @SickTriceratops, said the tape had circulated privately among a small group of “Jurassic” fans for years.

A darker animated return to Isla Nublar

The apparent trailer offers little concrete story information, but its survival-driven setup is clear. Grant and Sattler are seen visiting Isla Nublar with two children: a blonde girl and a brunette boy wearing glasses.

The children could potentially be Tim and Lex Murphy, although their identities are not confirmed. One notable discrepancy is that Tim did not wear glasses in the movies. In the footage, the boy becomes separated from the adults, suggesting the younger characters would have faced dinosaur threats without the protection of the group.

Although the animation has the recognizable look of a ’90s cartoon, the imagery carries a more frightening tone than many animated spin-offs of that era. Artist William Stout, who worked on the project, previously said that approach was intentional.

“This was not going to be a kiddy show (although kids of all ages, including myself, could enjoy it),” Stout wrote on his blog.

The project would have arrived during a period when animated television follow-ups were frequently used to extend the life of blockbuster movies for younger viewers. Films including “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure” and “Men in Black” received television spin-offs, yet “Jurassic Park” did not, despite being the third-highest-grossing movie of the ’90s.

Why the original series never made it to television

Universal, the studio behind “Jurassic Park,” enlisted its cartoon operation to develop the animated series but canceled it before completion. No official reason for that decision was provided.

Stout said he understood that the final call came down to Spielberg, although his account was based on what he had heard rather than direct confirmation.

“I heard through the grapevine that he never bothered to watch what we had done,” Stout wrote in 2014. “By that time the word was out that he was burnt out on ‘Jurassic Park’ merchandising and all of the film’s commercial exploitation. So, it never got made.”

The newly surfaced clips do not resolve the uncertainty surrounding the cancellation. They do, however, provide a clearer picture of how Universal’s proposed animated continuation might have looked, from its character designs to its more ominous dinosaur action.

The animated idea eventually returned

While the ’90s production never advanced to a completed series, Universal later revisited the idea of placing young characters at the center of an animated Isla Nublar survival story.

In 2020, after the franchise had been rebranded as “Jurassic World,” the studio released the 3D-animated “Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous.” That series followed a group of teenagers attempting to survive alone on Isla Nublar and featured a voice cast that included Jenna Ortega and Glen Powell.

A sequel series, “Jurassic World: Chaos Theory,” followed in 2024. Its story reunited the teenagers as they worked to save the world from a new threat targeting both dinosaurs and humans.

ShowBiz Take

The footage matters because it fills in a long-missing chapter of the franchise’s television history. Until these clips appeared, the canceled cartoon was known through accounts from people including Stout and through material that, according to one fan, remained in private circulation.

It also reveals that several ideas later associated with the animated “Jurassic World” shows — younger characters isolated amid danger on Isla Nublar and a tone built around survival — had been considered for television decades earlier. The ’90s series never reached viewers, but its apparent pitch trailer now offers a rare look at the animated “Jurassic Park” sequel Universal once explored.