
When it comes to messing with genetically modified creatures, Samuel L. Jackson just can’t catch a break. He’s faced down both cloned Velociraptors in Jurassic Park (1993) and super-smart sharks in Deep Blue Sea (1998), but his luck never seems to improve. Sure, in Deep Blue Sea, he’s famously eaten mid-monologue, but it’s his off-screen demise in Jurassic Park that still gives fans chills.
In Jurassic Park, Jackson plays Ray Arnold, the chain-smoking chief computer engineer tasked with keeping the park running. While many of the deaths in the film are quite graphic, like those of InGen lawyer Donald Gennaro and park warden Robert Muldoon, Ray’s death happens off-screen. But it’s still memorable—thanks to a severed arm.
In one of the film’s most suspenseful scenes, paleobotanist Ellie Sattler (played by Laura Dern) heads to the maintenance shed to restore the island’s power. What she finds instead is a hungry Velociraptor and a pretty horrifying surprise: Ray’s severed arm falls onto her shoulder before the raptor lunges out from the pipes. It’s a classic jump scare, but it leaves us wondering: is this arm enough proof that Ray Arnold really met his end?
Could Ray Arnold Have Survived?
It’s a fun theory to entertain. Could Ray have survived his encounter with the raptors? Could he have been left behind on Isla Nublar after the main characters took off in the helicopter at the end of the film? It’s the sort of theory usually reserved for Samuel L. Jackson’s other iconic character, Mace Windu from Star Wars. After all, Mace loses an arm to Anakin Skywalker and then gets thrown from a building, but fans still believe he could be out there, somewhere in the galaxy.
And it turns out, Samuel L. Jackson himself is open to the idea that Ray Arnold might have survived. During an appearance on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, Jackson shared some behind-the-scenes details about how a hurricane changed the original plan for his character’s death scene in Jurassic Park. “I was supposed to shoot a death scene [in Jurassic Park], but there was a big hurricane that tore up all the sets. So I didn’t get to go to Hawaii. So they just decided to stick my arm on a fall or floor or whatever,” Jackson explained. He even joked about the possibility of Ray’s survival, saying, “So now I figured, like Mace Windu, he [Ray Arnold] got out there in the park and made friends with the Velociraptors. He got a couple of them that he could ride.”
Of course, Jackson was joking, but it’s fun to imagine Ray Arnold surviving the initial raptor attack, only to meet some other fate on the island. With the upcoming video game “Jurassic Park: Survival,” which takes place 24 hours after the events of the 1993 film, fans might just get more closure. The game promises a return to Isla Nublar with new characters and familiar faces.
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Will Ray Arnold Return in Jurassic Park: Survival?
The video game “Jurassic Park: Survival” is set to continue the story, picking up right after the chaos of the original movie. According to the game’s synopsis: “Return to Isla Nublar the day after the events of the beloved 1993 Jurassic Park film in an original adventure 65 million years in the making.” It sounds like a thrill ride for fans who want to revisit the terror and excitement of the first movie.
Interestingly, the game has already confirmed the return of a character thought to be gone for good: the Velociraptor that Lex Murphy (Ariana Richards) trapped in the kitchen freezer. If a raptor can make a comeback, could Ray Arnold pop up as well? While it’s a long shot, “Jurassic Park: Survival” seems like the place where a surprise return like this might happen.
Realistically, though, fans are more likely to see Ray Arnold in the game than in the upcoming Jurassic World Rebirth, which is slated for release in 2025. The new film is set several decades after the original, so a cameo from Ray seems less likely—unless they decide to surprise everyone with a flashback.
Whether or not Ray Arnold makes a return, it’s clear that the character left an impression. His abrupt off-screen exit, combined with Samuel L. Jackson’s star power, keeps fans speculating to this day. And even if Ray doesn’t come back, Jurassic Park enthusiasts will always have that unforgettable scene of Ellie Sattler finding the severed arm and the lurking raptor in the shadows.
So, do you think Ray Arnold could still be out there, surviving on Isla Nublar? Or should we leave that theory to the Star Wars galaxy? Let us know what you think in the comments below!