Kiwi film star Sam Neill was snubbed by Jurassic World producers

Premiere of the movie Hunt for the Wilderpeople at Hoyts Sylvia Park, Auckland. Sam Neill. Wednesday 30 March 2016 Herald on Sunday Photograph by Norrie Montgomery.

Kiwi movie star Sam Neill has claimed he never got asked to reprise his role as Dr Alan Grant in Jurassic World.

Neill, who was the star of the original 1993 film Jurassic Park, told TV chat show host Graham Norton he had never ruled out a return.

However when producers came to reboot the franchise with last year's follow-up Jurassic World, he wasn't asked to be a part of the new film.

"I didn't rule it out, they just didn't call me," Neill said on Friday night's Graham Norton Show in the UK. "It's fine. I've been doing other things.

"Someone asked me the other day and I said, 'I don't know what's happened to Alan Grant. He could be dead, he could be in therapy or he might be an accountant in Des Moines - nobody knows what's happened to him.'"

The blockbuster success of Jurassic World - it made $2.3 billion in cinemas worldwide - means a sequel is on its way, pencilled for release in 2018.

In a recent interview with Britain's Radio Times magazine Neill said he feels he may be getting a bit old to return to the franchise anyway.

"I've been living with these rumours for, I don't know how many years now," he said. "But I'm not sure I'm fleet of foot enough to run away from dinosaurs any more."