What Happened To John Hammond In The Jurassic Park Series?

Have you ever wondered what happened to Dr. John Hammond, aka the person who founded the controversial dinosaur theme park in 1993's "Jurassic Park?" As it turns out, Hammond didn't get to see much of the domino effect of the mess that he started, as he died soon after the events of 1997's "The Lost World: Jurassic Park."

Played by the late Richard Attenborough, Hammond had a dream of bringing dinosaurs to life and letting the world witness the majesty of these prehistoric creatures. Unfortunately, he never questioned the natural order of predators in the wild, effectively lowering the position of humans in the food chain by reintroducing dinosaurs into the mix. Hammond features heavily in "Jurassic Park," while he makes a brief appearance in 1997's "The Lost World: Jurassic Park." As is evidenced by the sequel, Hammond lost control of his company, InGen, to his nephew Peter Ludlow (Arliss Howard), who learned absolutely nothing from his uncle's attempt to allow humanity and dinosaurs to live in harmony. Additionally, Hammond is quite ill in "The Lost World: Jurassic Park," judging by all the medical apparatus in his room.

Hammond never appeared in further "Jurassic Park" movies after this. As revealed by the Masrani Global Corporation website for 2015's "Jurassic World," he passed away in 1997, leading to Simon Masrani (Irrfan Khan) purchasing InGen and the launch of Jurassic World — another harebrained scheme that ended with humans turning into dino snacks.

There are a few major differences between the "Jurassic Park" novel and the film. One of the biggest changes made in Steven Spielberg's movie is John Hammond's personality and fate. In Michael Crichton's book, Hammond's reason for creating Jurassic Park is mostly profit-driven, and to prove that he can do it. The childlike innocence from the movie is largely removed from the character; plus, he isn't too interested in the science of Jurassic Park. Instead, he acts more like an arrogant tech bro who doesn't care about the consequences of his actions as long as he's the first person to reach a milestone.

The events in the "Jurassic Park" book follow the same pattern as the movie: Dinosaurs break free from their enclosures. They eat humans. The humans scream. And everyone tries to figure out a way to get off Isla Nublar. Unlike the movie, though, Hammond doesn't make it off the island.

Despite all the death and destruction around him, Hammond remains delusional about making Jurassic Park a reality until the bitter end. After falling and breaking his ankle, he is eaten by a group of those little Chihuahua-looking dinosaurs known as the Procompsognathus. Life, uh, didn't find a way in this instance.