Sam Neill jokes that he won't be involved in Jurassic Park 2 because Alan Grant's now an accountant

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When Jeff Goldblum was promoting sequel Independence Day 2, a lot of journalists took the time to ask him if his Jurassic Park character Dr. Ian Malcolm would be showing up in Jurassic World 2 (apparently, he'd be open to the idea like a "chicken piccata.")

Someone has now taken it upon themselves to pose the same question to Sam Neill who played paleontologist Alan Grant in the 1993 Spielberg classic.

The actor - who can currently be seen in Taika Waititi's New Zealand comedy Hunt for the Wilderpeople - wasn't in first sequel The Lost World but did reprise the role in Jurassic Park III (2001).

According to Neill, Grant has been lured by the accounting industry.

“I think the problem is that no one knows where Alan Grant is anymore," he told ShortList. He’s retired from paleontology. He’s sick to death of dinosaurs and running. He’s not quite as fleet of foot as he was, and he’s now retired to Dayton, Ohio, and has a very successful accountancy business. I think that’s what’s happened to Alan. Either that or he’s dead.”

Jurassic World 2 will see the return of Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard. J.A. Bayona will take over the role of director from Colin Trevorrow who is hard at work prepping Star Wars: Episode IX; his next film will be A Monster Calls, an adaptation of the Patrick Ness novel featuring Felicity Jones, Sigourney Weaver and the voice of Liam Neeson.

Following its release, Jurassic World became the fourth highest-grossing film of all time. The as-of-yet untitled sequel will be released in 2018.

Neill has also confirmed he'll be appearing in Waititi's next film, Thor: Ragnarok, alongside his former Jurassic Park co-star Goldblum.