Ben Lamm Photograph courtesy of Colossal Ben Lamm is making the impossible possible, working to bring animals back from extinction. Though it was a difficult feat to accomplish in under five years, his company, Colossal Biosciences, which he co-founded with American geneticist George Church in 2021, has already revived the dire wolf. Yes, the beloved species found in Game of Thrones. "The idea that we could do something that could have a really awesome impact and then also build a lot of value in the tech [space] and create the leading genome and engineering company, while also inspiring the next generation, for me it was the perfect combination," Lamm tells The Hollywood Reporter of his reason for launching Colossal. "It was one of those true opportunities that if we were successful, the world would never be the same again." Related Stories TV From TikTok to Primetime: Alix Earle on Her 'DWTS' Journey and What's Next Person of Interest There's Another Side to 'Culpa Nuestra' Star Nicole Wallace You Haven't Seen Yet With the support of some Hollywood investors - including filmmaker Peter Jackson, author George R.R. Martin, actress Sophie Turner and former NFL star Tom Brady, to name a few - the 43-year-old billionaire entrepreneur has brought the development of genetic engineering and reproductive technology to the public stage, sparking interest across the globe. Below, Lamm opens up about his de-extinction initiative, how Colossal chose their first group of species, how several Hollywood notables got involved with his company, if he's open to bringing people behind the scenes of Colossal's work in a documentary and more. What do you make of everything Colossal has been able to accomplish in such a short amount of time, since launching only a few years ago in 2021? The fact that in less than four years, we've taken 73,000-year-old skulls and made puppies, and we brought the world's first woolly mouse - not that the world even needed it, but it's kind of cool and interesting, right? I had no idea it was going to be such a viral impact on kids and parents. We get at least four or five emails a day about the woolly mouse, which is just insane. And given the fact that we get all these crazy, supportive governments around the world, indigenous people groups around the world, crazy amounts of celebrity [support], like we don't pay celebrity endorsements, they're investors in us. And it's been this weird worldwide movement. So I would say, I thought people would be really excited about the mission. I was hopeful because obviously, the inspiration and impact side. I had no idea we'd have this level of excitement and support around the business. So I am in awe every day of the incredible women and men of what they've achieved scientifically in an insane amount of time. There are unfortunately so many extinct animals, so what made you want to start with the woolly mammoth, Tasmanian tiger, dodo, dire wolf and moa? So a couple of reasons, right? As we build out a robust, like de-extinction tool kit, ranging from ancient DNA assembly to comparative genomics to genome engineering to even eventually things like artificial wombs, we wanted to pick different animals from different animal clades, so it was representative of large family groups. So hopefully the technologies are easily adaptable from a conservation perspective. And it's not like we have a five-step checklist. But we do think about things like, one, is it possible? Does this DNA exist? Is there a surrogate until we have artificial wombs existing? And then, should we do it? Is there a conservation benefit to it? Is there an indigenous input? It was crazy to think that we'd ever work on one of those species that has this cultural impact to these people without consulting them. So that has to be a layer to it. And then there's certain pop culture elements like the dire wolf, right? It has a conservation aspect, as an indigenous aspect. It can help ecosystems. There's a lot to it. But then we're like, most people think the dire wolf was just in Game of Thrones or Magic: The Gathering. It had this fantasy and nerd culture component that was like, oh my gosh, we could bring all those people into science and show people what's possible. Dire wolves Romulus and Remus. Courtesy of Colossal What other extinct species are on your list to revive in the future? There's a couple that are really awesome. There's one called the freat auk, which was basically a North American penguin species that's like penguin meets puffins. A really cool animal that Vikings and others hunted to extinction. We're not working on it yet, but as we get further with our avian genomics group on the moa and dodo, I think it'd be a great project to add. Another project that we're not working on, but I'd love to is a Steller's sea cow. It's like a whale-sized manatee. It's a terrible tragedy - 30 or 40 years after humans discovered it was extinct. Dire wolves Romulus and Remus just had their first