Jesse initially does not take the news well, but eventually talks out his feelings with Glen, and accepts. Before they leave town, however, Dwight, Jesse's former social worker, shows up to inform them that Jesse's biological mother, who abandoned him 8 years ago when Jesse was 6, was found in New York City, and has died and left behind another son, Jesse's 8-year old half-brother named Elvis ( Francis Capra). Glen has been trying to teach Jesse to drive their motorboat, but Jesse is more interested in women. Jesse and his adoptive parents are preparing to go on a family camping trip to the Pacific Northwest. Jesse, now a teenager, has since been adopted by his foster parents, Glen and Annie Greenwood. It's been two years since Jesse saved and freed his orca friend, Willy.
Willy is played by a robotic double while the Free Willy Keiko Foundation devised a plan to bring him to the Oregon Coast Aquarium where he would be rehabilitated for poor health.
A fourth nonconsecutive film, Free Willy: Escape from Pirate's Cove was released on DVD in November 2009. Keiko the Orca does not actually appear in this film unlike the original movie.
Free Willy 3: The Rescue, was subsequently released in 1997, making a trilogy. It is a sequel to the 1993 film Free Willy, also starring Jason James Richter and August Schellenberg. Little, and released by Warner Bros. under its Family Entertainment banner. Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home is a 1995 family film, directed Dwight H.