In the Jurassic World trilogy, Wu secretly creates weaponized hybrid dinosaurs at the behest of others, although the animals later escape and wreak havoc.

In Dominion, he secretly engineers giant locusts for his employer, Biosyn, which unleashes the insects to consume rival crops in a plot to control the world food supply.

Wu is sometimes considered a villain in the Jurassic World films, although Wong believes the character is misunderstood, stating that his research is well intentioned and driven by the demands of others.

Wu is eager to make his mark in the science world, and Hammond gives him an opportunity to do so, offering him a $50 million budget to create living dinosaurs within five years.

On Isla Nublar, Wu provides a tour of the theme park's laboratory facilities to a group of visitors, which includes Dr. Alan Grant, Dr. Ellie Sattler, and Dr. Ian Malcolm.

With Jurassic Park scheduled to open the following year, Wu finds his influence waning, as Hammond is increasingly unwilling to listen to his suggestions.

This would also make them easier to manage, with Wu noting that many early assumptions about the behavior and biology of the animals had been proven wrong once they were brought back to life.

According to the novel, Wu privately considers the breeding ability a "tremendous validation" of his work, because it implies that he had "put all the pieces together correctly", creating "an animal millions of years old, with such precision that the creature could even reproduce itself".

Set 22 years after the events of the first film, Jurassic World features an operational dinosaur theme park on Isla Nublar, with Wu again working as lead geneticist.

Prior to the events of the film, Wu was tasked by Jurassic World owner Simon Masrani with creating a new attraction to boost park attendance.

On behalf of CEO Lewis Dodgson, Wu has secretly engineered giant hybrid locusts using Cretaceous arthropod DNA to eliminate the crops of rival companies.

At his suggestion, Biosyn kidnaps human clone Maisie Lockwood and Blue's baby, Beta, so he can study their altered DNA, believing this to be the solution to the locust outbreak.

As Biosyn is evacuated due to a forest fire, Wu encounters numerous characters from previous films, including Grant, Sattler, and Malcolm.

[13][14] For the 1993 film adaptation of Jurassic Park, Wu was portrayed by BD Wong, an Asian-American actor who had risen to prominence with a role in the Broadway play M. Butterfly.

[20] Wong said "it does happen a lot that they'll pick an ethnic character that's huge in a book or in some source material and either cut it, turn it into a white person, or whittle it down to nothing.

[a][18] Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly, the writers of Jurassic World, viewed Wu as a logical character to return, considering his role in recreating dinosaurs.

[26][27] Before Wong had a chance to upload any videos about his character's fate,[18] he was contacted by Trevorrow about possibly reprising the role in Jurassic World, a year before it began production.

Co-writer Trevorrow felt it was far-fetched that Wu had been the only person who knew how to create a dinosaur "after 30 years of this technology existing" within the films' universe.

[36] Dominion reunites Wong with several actors from the original 1993 film: Sam Neill (portraying Alan Grant), Laura Dern (Ellie Sattler), and Jeff Goldblum (Ian Malcolm).

[16] Wong further believes that Wu is awestruck by the power of genetic engineering and oblivious to the motivations of other people who have recruited him to use such technology for "bad things",[30] while stating that it was "the demands of the world that made those dinosaurs happen".

[41][42] Regarding Wu's portrayal in Jurassic World, Wong described him as someone who is "delusional" and impressed by his scientific advances, to the point that "he's completely turning a blind eye to all of the bad things that are going on.

[40] Wong, likewise, said that Wu is eager to receive credit for his work,[41] stating that he "doesn't always put the dinosaurs first" but "he really does respect them, and he takes great pride in his role in creating them".

[39] In Camp Cretaceous Season 3, Dr. Henry Wu returns to Isla Nublar with a group of mercenaries to retrieve the Indominus rex bone.

Brooklyn's insights plant a seed of doubt and moral reflection in Wu, which may contribute to his change of heart depicted in Jurassic World: Dominion.

This nuanced portrayal in Camp Cretaceous adds depth to Wu’s character, showcasing his capacity for growth and redemption beyond the role of the mere antagonist most people take him for.

[43] After the release of Fallen Kingdom, Michael Walsh of Nerdist called Wu "a compelling, complex, and important big bad whose story deserves a powerful resolution" in the sequel.

He stated that no other character "has undergone as dramatic a transformation" as Wu: "He began as Jekyll and turned into Hyde, losing his soul as he was consumed by a dangerous god complex".

[44] Renaldo Matadeen, writing for Comic Book Resources, opined that Wu "has easily been the most sinister villain" in the film series, going from InGen's lead geneticist to "a monster playing god".

[46] Nick Bartlett of /Film felt that Wu had a "sketchy progression" throughout the Jurassic World trilogy and noted that he once again "disappears into the background" for much of Dominion, as in previous films.

[47] Richard Trenholm of CNET praised Wu in Dominion and viewed him as "a tragic figure, tortured by his mistakes", writing further, "He's the closest thing to an actual human person, and carries the original film's themes of scientific folly and hubris on his shoulders.