The following contains mild spoilers for Jurassic World: Chaos Theory, now streaming on Netflix

Jurassic World 4 should embrace horror over action as a core tonal throughline. The success of the Jurassic World franchise makes any new film an exciting prospect, especially if it builds off the momentum of the previous entries The result is a film that could go in any number of directions, especially as the series shifts the focus away from established characters to introduce brand new faces to the Jurassic World franchise played by stars like Scarlett Johansson. Described as a “complete reboot” by Director Gareth Edwards, Jurassic World 4 has a lot of exciting potential directions it could go.

Little is known about the upcoming Jurassic World 4 except that it promises to set up a new era for the franchise. However, the series shouldn’t forget its roots even as it charts a new path forward. New locations and dangers would be a good fit for the series’ future, especially if it returns to the frightening elements that have been present since the beginning of the series. Leaning even harder into those elements, in a similar fashion to the latest animated entry to the franchise, could be an ideal way to take Jurassic 4 in a new exciting direction.

The Jurassic Franchise Works Best As A Horror Series

Jurassic Park Films Have Been Scary Since The Early Days Of The Series

The Jurassic Park franchise has always been at its best when it embraces horror, something that was true in the early days of the franchise and extending to the newly released Jurassic World: Chaos Theory. Directed by Steven Spielberg, 1993’s Jurassic Park fused the wonders of nature with escalating terror. While the film does an impressive job of balancing a lot of tones, many of its best sequences rely on danger and tension. The entire film franchise is kicked off with a creature attacking and killing a staff member. From the onset, the inherent danger of the world is clear.

This is an early clue to an underlying central theme of the series, that messing with nature for one’s own gain and ambition will only lead to pain and suffering. Several of the most memorable scenes from the original Jurassic Park are intense, ranging from the rampage of the Tyrannosaurus to the raptors hunting much of the cast through the halls of the compunt. This tone is carried across the subsequent films, shows, and other tie-ins. Season 1 of Jurassic World: Chaos Theory leans hard into this aspect of the franchise, highlighting the fearful potential baked into dinosaur heavy premise.

Chaos Theory Proves How Scary Jurassic World Should Be

Jurassic World: Chaos Theory Turns The Franchise Into A Raptor-Filled Version Of The Fugitive

The sequel series to Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous, Chaos Theory focuses on the Nublar Six. The close-knit group of friends were quietly surviving in the background of Jurassic World and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, eventually returning to society at the end of the series. Taking place six years later (putting it in the same general period as Jurassic World: Dominion), Chaos Theory sends most of the group on the run following the death of one of their own. While the show still finds room for character drama and relationship beats, the show’s best moments are driven by tense dinosaur encounters.

The show has many elements of a modern thriller, with the characters trying to remain hidden while on the run. Many scenes are intense in different ways, showcasing a solid mastery of horror in open and enclosed spaces alike. Dinosaurs are a flexible source of tension, even while others inspire wonder and love. The dinosaurs are effective scares in many different ways, highlighting how adaptable dinosaurs can be used in a horror story. Especially as the Jurassic World franchise plays with dinosaurs in the larger world, it should look to Chaos Theory for how effective the series is as horror.

Humans Are Just As Deadly As Dinosaurs In Jurassic World

Jurassic World Can Turn Humans Into Even More Dangerous Figures Than Dinosaurs

Another consistent element of the Jurassic World franchise is the fearful potential of humanity. Going all the way back to the first film in the series, the greed of people like Nedry helped set off the ensuing chaos that erupted across the island. This has become a prominent element of the Jurassic World trilogy, with the dinosaur auctions and the weaponization of raptors highlighting how easily people can take nature and pervert it into a weapon. This is especially prevalent in Chaos Theory, which features a conspiracy behind the scenes that isn’t above using dinosaurs to hunt down the heroes.

Chaos Theory even incorporates dark versions of characters like Owen Grady, highlighting how humans who’ve formed bonds with raptors can be absolutely terrifying and ruthless. It’s something Jurassic World has already embraced, finding a healthy balance between the intense present danger of dinosaurs as well as the more devious planning of human villains. Chaos Theory unspools a grander mystery across the course of its first season, setting up a mysterious and largely unseen enemy behind the scenes that could easily set a precedent for how the series utilizes introduces important villains in future entries, including the upcoming Jurassic World 4.

Where Jurassic World 4 Can Take The Franchise

Jurassic World‘s New Direction Should Be Primarily A Horror

Jurassic World 4 has a lot of scary storytelling potential, given the broader open-ended nature and unanswered questions from 2022’s Jurassic World: Dominion. The ending of that film expanded the scope of the world as humanity fully reckoned with revived dinosaurs. Dinosaurs could be kept within the confines of humanity’s designs, or could be wild animals exploring the world. Both could easily make for horrifying threats in new film, with all sorts of potential as the subjects of horrifying plotlines. Dominion ended with a large amount of closure for established characters, leaving the series open to go in fresh directions.

Embracing a horror tone could be the ideal place to take the Jurassic World franchise while hearkening back to its scary roots. Dinosaurs can be fearsome creatures that work on both a tight and broader scale. Fully playing with dinosaurs for scares is a very adaptable core concept. Dinosaurs could be used as hunters in a wide-range thriller, the central monsters in large-scale conflicts, or just creatures that unlucky humans encounter on their journeys. The effectiveness of Jurassic World dinosaurs within the horror genre should influence Jurassic World 4, which could learn a lot from the scares of Chaos Theory.