SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses major plot points, including the ending for “Jurassic World: Rebirth,” now playing in theaters.

“Jurassic World Rebirth” could have had a very different — and tragic — ending for one of its major characters.

Directed by Gareth Edwards, the film takes place five years after the events of 2022’s “Jurassic World Dominion” and centers on a group of mercenaries (Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali) and scientists (Jonathan Bailey). The crew ventures to the abandoned island Saint-Hubert, which was once home to the InGen research lab for cloning dinosaurs, on a mission to retrieve dino DNA that could lead to a cure for heart disease. Along the way, they encounter the Delgado family — a father (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), his two daughters (Luna Blaise and Audrina Miranda) and the elder girl’s boyfriend (David Iacono)— rescuing them after their sailboat gets sunk by dinosaurs in the open ocean.

And that’s just the first traumatic — albeit, thrilling — run-in with the formerly extinct, and genetically mutated, species which roam freely around the tropical locale. What follows are two more hours of close encounters of the mutant dino kind as the cast of characters races to finish the mission and get off the island alive.

In the film’s epic finale, the characters attempt to escape by boat, but come face-to-face with their most terrifying foe yet — the Distortus rex, which has already savagely chomped their rescue helicopter out of the sky. Ali’s character, Duncan, decides to create a distraction, sacrificing himself so his friends — and in particular, the young kids — will survive. He lights a flare and the D-rex chases him into the water. Then, the flare goes out.

Moments later, another flare shoots into the sky. Duncan lives! And all the survivors are rescued and return home with a new lease on life.

However, that wasn’t always the intended ending. “The draft I first read, he died,” Edwards tells Variety, explaining that, at that point, Ali had not yet signed on to the film. But, once he did board the project, Ali sent in his thoughts. “Mahershala read it, and his only main note was, ‘Can we kill him?’ I agreed with him.”

Read on as Edwards details how he and Ali were ultimately outvoted on the ending by the studio and test-screening audiences, plus all the ways “Rebirth” pays homage to maestro Steven Spielberg — from incorporating the original “Jurassic Park” score to nods to “Jaws,” and how even “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” factors in — and whether he’s ready to take on more dinosaurs in a sequel.

I read that one of your initial reactions to the script was mildly negative, and that you were ready to say ‘No,’ but by the time you got to the end, you had a change of heart. What was that turning point in the story?

The first point was the front cover. It said “written by David Koepp,” [Koepp wrote 1993’s
Jurassic Park” and its sequel, 1997’s “The Lost World.”]

I was hoping I wouldn’t like it because I wanted to have a break — I said to my girlfriend, “I want this to be an easy choice” — ideally, we’d go on holiday. But I disappeared into a room and started reading it, and I was like, “Oh, no. It’s really good.” It’s exactly the playground I want to play in as a filmmaker. There’s this sequence in there of the T-rex attacking the raft with this family in it, and that, on its own, was worth making the movie for.

That scene is pretty terrifying. When Isabella is under the capsized raft being attacked by the T-rex, I thought, ‘Oh my God, is Gareth going to do this? Is he going to kill her?” How did you find that balance of making people scared while not leaning too far into the shocks and gore?

It’s tricky because you want people to think you’re going to do it. You’ve walked into a family adventure movie with lots of families and their kids. So, can they and will they do this?

A lot of this was in the script, but you start to think of ingredients and ideas that could create interesting dilemmas or visuals. The second you’ve got a raft, and it flips, you think to yourself, “It could land on top of someone.” [Then, you think,] “OK, we’ve got to make that the little girl, and she’s screaming because she doesn’t know where it is.” It’s also a daylight scene. [Scary] scenes are a lot easier to make when it’s night because you can hide things. So having her trapped under the raft allowed that fear of the unknown, the thing you can’t see.

I also remember there was a conversation about the raft. The first raft they got was orange, and because of “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” I wanted it to be yellow. These poor guys had to search around the world and find four yellow rafts.

You also fear for the main characters, Henry, Zora and Duncan, who all escape unscathed. Was Duncan, in particular, always going to survive? Or was there another outcome?

It flipped back and forth a couple of times. In the draft I first read, he died, and I thought, “That’s great!” We started to pursue Mahershala, and for whatever reason, it felt like, well, if we’re going to get Mahershala, we’ve got to keep him alive, right? But then Mahershala read it, and his only main note was, “Can we kill him?” I agreed, so I joined Team Mahershala and we both pushed to have him killed; the script changed back to him dying.

Whilst we were shooting, the studio said, “Look, we haven’t got time to do a pickup shoot or any reshoots. Just to be safe, get some material, just in case we need him to live.” In my mind, I know how this works; whatever we film will be in the movie, so you’ve got to be careful. I thought, “If we can do this, I want it to be the really classy version that I can live with,” so I started trying to imagine it and to picture some shots. The actors gave this amazing performance for this little section, and I really liked it.

But, when we edited the movie and did the director’s cut, I ended up sending the version that had him dying. It went well, but the studio said, “Oh, it’s great. But can we just see the version where he lives?” We hadn’t put it together, so we went back and edited that, and everyone just said, “It’s got to be that.” We did two test screenings, and the reaction to him living, everyone was a lot happier.

I still wasn’t sure about it until the screening in New York. The moment where this flare appears revealing that he’s lived got this massive applause, and I felt a little tear welling in my eye. Hats off to the studio. I’m glad they made me shoot that extra little section because I think it’s probably the strongest part of the film.

I just didn’t want to feel like I was selling out by bringing him back. But if anything, I had to remind myself that there’s this film called “E.T.” where E.T. died, and then when he came back. So I kept reassuring myself: remember that movie you loved did this, it’s not a cop-out.

You’ve mentioned Steven Spielberg. I love the homages in the film, like hearing John Williams’ original “Jurassic Park” theme. What conversations did you have with your composer, Alexandre Desplat, about that?

One of the early things Alexandre said what that we should use the theme. At the time, I was like, “I don’t know. We’re just going to experiment.” We did try a version where we didn’t have the “Jurassic” theme at all, and it felt wrong. It felt like it was missing a bit of magic dust.

Then it was a game of, “If we only play it once, where do we put it?” My problem was that I wanted it in the end credits. When it cuts to the credits, that theme begins, but it’s not really in the movie. So, I thought we can use it twice. The Titanosaur became the obvious contender because that’s where you wanted the awe and majesty. That’s also where you remember and feel it in the original, when the Brachiosaurs are at the lake. It was just trial and error.

When we recorded it, it’s one of the “take to your grave” memories. We were at Abbey Road, and I had to go to CinemaCon during the recordings. I was frustrated because I wanted to be there every day. So, I said, “OK, do me one favor. Just don’t record the “Jurassic” theme whilst I’m away. Please don’t record it. Save it until I get back.” While I was away, I heard via text that they had recorded it, and I was really sad. It was a big misunderstanding, so when I got back, I got to sit, and they did the theme. As Alexandre was conducting, Conrad Pope, the orchestrator of the original “Jurassic Park,” was there, too. You sit on these steps where The Beatles recorded all their best albums and this John Williams theme unfolded, you could feel the orchestra and how they got into this for a living because of John Williams.

The Mosasaurus scene is another homage to Spielberg — this time “Jaws,” which just turned 50. Can you talk about what went into that?

I started reading the script, and it talks about them chasing a giant creature in the ocean. They’ve got a rifle, they’re leaning out the front of the boat to try and hit the creature, and it’s got a big fin. You start to go, “I’ve seen another film like this… It’s called ‘Jaws,’” and then you feel trapped. You go, “I don’t know how to do this sequence, and not have that iconography, that visuals of ‘Jaws’ in there.” So, it was a game of trying not to be like “Jaws.” But it was nearly impossible because that movie is obviously a masterpiece.

We tried it with scary music the entire time, and it felt like a really long sequence, so we broke it into two. We made the first half about excitement, fun and adventure, and the second half scary, and, suddenly, it really worked. Even doing that feels like “Jaws” because there’s that section where they have what you might call “happy pirate music.”

This whole job was a love letter to Steven and his early work. And it’s a very fine line between plagiarism and homage, so I was truly trying to be in the homage camp. You can’t be Steven. He’s the master at this stuff.

Given how the film ends, do you expect the story can continue with these actors? And would you direct it?

The honest truth is we haven’t had a single conversation with anyone about it — not the studio, not the producers, not David and not Steven. No one’s said a word. I think it’s because we all don’t want to jinx anything.

You can smell it when you watch a film like this, if everyone’s trying to make it lead to a franchise. I think it’s more when the franchise is given, right? It’s got the word “Jurassic” at the front of it. How will the world receive this movie, to the point where they want it to carry on with these characters? I personally think what the actors have brought to it is amazing. I loved what David wrote, so I think it’s all going to be OK. I’m very happy.

My girlfriend sent me a meme which said, “Gareth Edwards doing ‘Godzilla,’ ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Jurassic’ is the kind of greed they warned us about in the Bible.” I feel like I’ve had it too good, and I should just step away and let someone else have a crack at this stuff. I’ve had a very lucky few years.

This interview has been edited and condensed.