Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous returns for season 3 May 21, 2020, on Netflix. Still trapped on Isla Nublar, the six teenage campers left behind when Jurassic World was overrun by dinosaurs take matters into their own hands and try to escape the island. However, it's never easy to escape Jurassic World and new problems pop up that bring Netflix's animated series even closer to the events of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.
In a spoiler-free conversation, Screen Rant interviewed Camp Cretaceous stars Paul-Mikél Williams, who plays Darius, and Sean Giambrone, who plays Ben, about what's in store next for their characters in season 3, how Ben and Darius have each changed after months trapped with the dinosaurs on Isla Nublar, and how long they could survive in Jurassic World.
Screen Rant: I’ve seen all of season 3 and I thought it was the best season. You guys were firing on all cylinders and really delivered stuff that I’ve been wanting to see for the whole series.
Paul-Mikél Williams: Thank you. It's definitely my favorite season so far. Not just because of acting but also because of the intense amount of animation and how much time went into it. This is by far the best-looking season to me.
Screen Rant: I agree. Especially when it's raining and the close-ups of the faces, it's beautiful. So we can’t spoil season 3 but I am glad that I got you two together because Darius and Ben have some great moments together. Can you guys talk about the special bond that forms this season between your two characters?
Sean Giambrone: Our characters grew a lot in season 2 and becoming a lot more assertive in some ways. Darius becoming more of a leader and Ben figuring out how to survive on his own. So I think reuniting, there's growing pains with their relationship. We actually got to record a lot of the stuff together because we just had a lot to work together with this season.
Paul-Mikél Williams: I definitely feel the same way. This season was the first time I recorded with Sean. It was so awesome being in the recording booth [with him] because he's such a chill person in whatever he does. This relationship with Darius and Ben is kinda complicated. Despite Ben being alive, in season 3 Darius is still going through the pain and trauma of letting him go fr0m the monorail back in season 1. So I feel like there's conflict between Ben's choices and Darius' choices. Because now all Darius wants to do is keep him protected because he doesn't want that to happen again. So yeah, it definitely makes for a very interesting season.
Screen Rant: You guys mentioned you worked together in person during season 3. Was that the first time? Were you guys all separated during the pandemic and working remotely?
Sean Giambrone: Yeah, I can't remember before the pandemic...
Screen Rant: It's hard to remember before the pandemic, period. The before times...
Sean Giambrone: (laughs) Yeah, really! The golden years.
Paul-Mikél Williams: I think season 3's original recordings were done just before the pandemic happened. Because I think we were in the studio together.
Sean Giambrone: Before this season, we would just see each other before or after our sessions and we got to know each other a little bit. But then with this one, it was the first time I got in the booth with anybody else and it was cool that it was with Paul. As things progressed, they didn't want us to record all together because we were goofing around too much (laughs). Not very productive, I guess.
Screen Rant: Paul, the thing I love about Darius is that even though dinosaurs have tried to kill him now for three seasons, he still loves them. Can you talk about Darius’ love for dinosaurs? Is that a love you share?
Paul-Mikél Williams: Yes. One of the things I loved about this season Darius unexpectedly gets this chance to reconnect with his dad because all of these different things keep popping up that remind him of his dad. I want to say it's this bond that kind of says, "If something happens to these dinosaurs, that basically means something happens to my dad because he's not here today." Dinosaurs and his dad was a real connection that he had and a lot of his love for dinosaurs came from his dad's love for dinosaurs. And he's never gonna lose that connection.
It makes for an interesting story because of some of the stuff he has to do. In one scene, there's a little Easter egg where they go back to the [old Jurassic Park] visitor's center and there's a really big thing that happens. And at the end, even though something happens, Darius is not happy about it. Even though it was good for the sake of their lives, it was still something he didn't feel like he really wanted to do because they're still living creatures. It definitely makes for a very interesting, conflicting, and exciting story for season 3.
Screen Rant: Sean, Ben has grown so much in the course of the story. He's completely different now from how he was in season 1. What was it like playing Ben from how helpless he was to becoming the jungle badass he is now?
Sean Giambrone: In some ways, I relate to the original Ben's love of hand sanitizer kind of stuff. But early on, they told me that I was gonna turn into Rambo and I was really looking forward to it. What's cool is once I did, they started giving me notes like, "Say it more like Harrison Ford", which I've never been that before! It's just a lot of fun to have a character change so drastically. It's like playing two characters and every once in a while, you get to slip in the old. So yeah, it's been really fun.
Screen Rant: I got to speak to Colin Trevorrow for season 2 and he said that Bumpy was his idea because the ankylosaurus is his favorite dinosaur. What’s your favorite dinosaur?
Paul-Mikél Williams: I gotta say over these past few seasons, Bumpy has really grown on me. Ankylosaurus has been my favorite dinosaur for quite a while too. It's like that gentle giant nature. Like that Spider-Man quote "with great power comes great responsibility". Bumpy has given me that great friendship vibe that I've always thought about and it's really cool because seeing Ben and Bumpy's relationship, that they're always willing to go the extra mile for each other and always protecting each other despite being two totally different species is just a heartwarming thing to see. It just fuels my love of dinosaurs even more.
Sean Giambrone: I gotta agree. That's my girl Bumpy! I'd say the same.
Screen Rant: Jurassic World is a huge franchise with five movies (soon six) and Camp Cretaceous. Which of the Jurassic movies is your personal favorite and why?
Sean Giambrone: It's a tough call but when I got to see Jurassic World, the first one [2015 directed by Colin Trevorrow] with a group of my friends, we were going nuts. I think we were so on edge pounding down bags of popcorn, and I think being in a theater and everything, that really stands out. It's just a really cool movie. But I may have seen Jurassic Park III more than any of them, so I gotta say Jurassic Park III for some reason.
Paul-Mikél Williams: I wanna say Jurassic World. Because there was a huge gap in my life between the Jurassic Park movies and the Jurassic World movies. When Jurassic World came out, I was super interested because of all of the new technology that was involved. It was an amazing creation that inspired me to go back and watch more of the originals. Now, I'm turning into the dino nerd that I play.
Screen Rant: Season 3 ends in a very cool place in terms of where the movies are. It was kind of building up to this point. Has there been any talk about your characters maybe one day appearing in live-action?
Paul-Mikél Williams: I know they're still in production of the third movie [Jurassic World: Dominion] so I'm like, "If you guys can fit me in, I'm down!"
Sean Giambrone: That would be very cool. If we just popped up and fans of the show seeing us.
Last question, the Campers have been on Isla Nublar for months and survived against ridiculous odds. If you were really trapped on Jurassic World, how long do you think you could last? Knowing the same things your characters know now if that helps?
Paul-Mikél Williams: I would say, if we drew a lot of things from what our characters learned, I feel like we'd last a while. Because there are a lot of attributes we'd draw from our characters, too. So I'd say, me and Sean, I'd give us like a month or so?
Sean Giambrone: I'd go longer. I'd say two years.
Screen Rant: Two years! Wow.
Sean Giambrone: With Darius' knowledge, we'd be set. We could do it!
Paul-Mikél Williams: Yeah!
- Jurassic World 3 (2022)Release date: Jun 10, 2022
