Dr. Henry Wu

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

In Michael Crichton's novel, Wu was a student of Norman Atherton, recruited by John Hammond after Atherton died of cancer. Given a $50 million budget to create living dinosaurs within five years, Wu used DNA from frogs to fill gaps in the genomes. He famously argued with Hammond that their creations were not real, stating, "But they're not real now. That's what I'm trying to tell you. There isn't any reality here." In the Jurassic World trilogy, Wu secretly created weaponized hybrids like the Indominus rex and Indoraptor at the behest of Simon Masrani and Eli Mills. By Dominion (2022), he worked for Biosyn CEO Lewis Dodgson, engineering giant locusts to consume rival crops and control the food supply using Cretaceous arthropod DNA.

In Their Own Story

Wu's narrative arc shifts drastically between media. In the novel, he is killed during a Velociraptor assault on the hotel when a raptor jumps from the roof and guts him; his intestines are consumed as he fails to fight it off. Conversely, in the films, he survives every catastrophe. After the Indominus rex escapes in Jurassic World (2015), Wu is flown to an unknown location with embryos by InGen Security head Hoskins. In Fallen Kingdom (2018), he creates the Indoraptor but protests when Eli Mills auctions it as a prototype. By Dominion, he regrets his actions regarding the locust outbreak. He attempts to escape Biosyn during a forest fire and is convinced by Maisie Lockwood to join the survivors after promising to use her DNA to solve the crisis. He eventually releases a modified pathogen that eradicates the locusts.

Reader's Guide

Dr. Wu's character is defined by his refusal to accept biological limits. In the first film, he explains how frog DNA allowed all-female dinosaurs to change sex and breed, a detail he privately viewed as a "tremendous validation" of his work. During Jurassic World, he defends his hybrid creations against Simon Masrani, noting that many dinosaurs would look "quite different" if their genetic codes were pure. He asserts his necessity with the line: "If I don't innovate, somebody else will." BD Wong has noted that Wu is often misunderstood as a villain, though Wong believes the character's research is well-intentioned and driven by external demands. Wong reprised the role for Jurassic World Evolution (2018) and Jurassic World Aftermath (2020), as well as theme park attractions like Jurassic World: The Ride.

Did You Know?

• In the novel, Wu is killed when a Velociraptor jumps from a roof onto him at the hotel, consuming his intestines.
• BD Wong is the only actor from any previous Jurassic Park film to appear in Jurassic World (2015).
• Wu secretly engineered giant locusts using Cretaceous arthropod DNA for Biosyn to control the world food supply.
• In the first novel, Wu was given a $50 million budget by John Hammond to create living dinosaurs within five years.
• The actor BD Wong believed his role was reduced in the 1993 film due to "racial exclusion in Hollywood."