Derek Connolly

• 1. Introduction

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  Derek Connolly is a screenwriter who has quietly helped shape some of the biggest blockbusters of the past decade, yet his name rarely appears on a movie poster. Born around 1976, Connolly spent his formative years in Miami before heading to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where the craft of storytelling became his discipline. What followed was a career that moved between intimate, critically praised films and the kind of franchise tentpoles that fill stadiums of seats. How does a writer end up co-authoring both Safety Not Guaranteed and Jurassic World? And what happened to the Star Wars film he wrote that never made it to the screen?

• 2. A Partnership With Trevorrow

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  Colin Trevorrow directed Safety Not Guaranteed in 2012, a film Connolly wrote and also produced. That collaboration planted the roots of one of the most consequential writing partnerships in recent Hollywood history. When Trevorrow was handed the keys to Jurassic World, he brought Connolly with him. The two co-wrote the screenplay for Jurassic World, which arrived in 2015, and then followed it with Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom in 2018. By February 2018, they had also produced a story treatment for Jurassic World Dominion, which ultimately reached theaters on the 10th of June 2022, though their contribution was listed as story only.

• 3. The Star Wars Script That Vanished

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  Connolly and Trevorrow co-wrote the first draft of a film titled Star Wars: Duel of the Fates, intended as the final chapter of the Star Wars sequel trilogy. Trevorrow had been attached to direct, but he stepped down from that role. When he left, Connolly went with him, and both were replaced. J. J. Abrams, who had directed Star Wars: The Force Awakens, took over as director, and Chris Terrio joined as co-writer. The script was reworked, retitled Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and released in 2019. Connolly and Trevorrow did receive a story credit alongside Abrams and Terrio, a formal acknowledgment that their original draft provided the foundation.

• 4. The Uncredited Work

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  Not every contribution Connolly made reached the screen with his name attached. He co-wrote early drafts of Pacific Rim: Uprising alongside Guillermo del Toro, Jon Spaihts, and Zak Penn. By the time the film was complete, the final screenplay was credited to Steven S. DeKnight, Emily Carmichael, Kira Snyder, and T. S. Nowlin, based on characters by Travis Beacham and del Toro. Connolly received no on-screen credit. He also rewrote Kong: Skull Island for Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures, a film that was released in 2017 and directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts, where his rewrite work did earn him a writing credit.

• 5. Projects on the Horizon

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  Connolly's slate of upcoming work spans genres and formats in ways that reflect the range he has shown throughout his career. He has been reported as working on a remake of Flight of the Navigator, an original Pixar film directed by Teddy Newton, and an adaptation of the Metal Gear video game series. The most concrete of his announced projects is a live-action film adaptation of The Legend of Zelda, directed by Wes Ball, with Connolly attached as writer. That film carries a listed year of 2027. The Detective Pikachu film he wrote, released in 2019 under director Rob Letterman, suggests he has navigated video game adaptations before, which may be why these particular projects have come his way.