10 Movie Sequels That Lost The Main Characters

2. The Lost World: Jurassic Park

Who Disappeared? Dr Alan Grant (Sam Neill)

In the first Jurassic Park film, the hero is very much Sam Neill's Dr Alan Grant. He's the obvious Indiana Jones stand-in (right down to the attitude and the hat) and he looks ready-made for an extended franchise. But then The Lost World came along and Grant was gone, to be replaced by a more action movie iteration of Jeff Goldblum's Ian Malcolm.

Because everyone knows that mathematicians are the best people to take down dinosaurs and pull off dangerous rescue missions... Ultimately Grant returned in Jurassic Park III, but the less said about the better, to be honest.

Why He Didn't Return

It's fairly simple, really: despite Steven Spielberg making significant changes to the original novel, the one thing he did stick rigidly to is the fact that Dr Alan Grant simply doesn't appear.

It also probably helped that Jeff Goldblum was the most enthusiastic star about returning.