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Great Scott! For years the cast and crew of the Back to the Future franchise have been adamant that Back to the Future 4 was never going to happen.

However, maybe they just meant that it wouldn’t be happening as a movie. Back to the Future 4 exists, and it’s a theme park experience. I’m not talking about Back to the Future: The Ride, the virtual simulator which entertained tourists at Universal Studios Florida, Universal Studios Hollywood, and Universal Studios Japan. The American versions of the attraction closed in 2007, while the Japanese version closed in 2016.

Epic Universe is the newest theme park from Universal Destinations & Experiences. The Orlando, Florida theme park has lands themed after Super Mario, Universal Monsters, Harry Potter, and How to Train Your Dragon. Those lands are connected by a central hub called Celestial Park.

At first glance, Celestial Park seems like the only spot that isn’t inspired by an IP franchise. The area is designed to “put the park back in theme park,” along with a dash of steampunk and art deco influences. Celestial Park’s marque attraction is Stardust Racers, a dual-launch roller coaster. Interestingly, the back of each ride vehicle contains a flux capacitor, the device Dr. Emmett Brown invented to make time travel possible.

At first, I thought this was just a fun Easter egg for Universal theme park fans, but the BTTF connections go deeper.

The official lore for Celestial Park is that it was designed by a mysterious inventor who lived long ago. The genius inventor designed the Chronos, a power source that runs the entire park. The Chronos also powers the interdimensional portals that bring tourists to the other IP lands, such as Dark Universe.

A mysterious inventor who lived long ago? A flux capacitor on a ride he built? Hmmm….I wonder who this individual could be?

Some Universal Studios team members have taken things a step further. A few Epic Universe guests have reported that in their conversations with team members, they’ve confirmed that Doctor Emmett Brown is one of the geniuses behind Celestial Park.

This could be a situation where licensing and rights issues make it complicated for Epic Universe to promote the Doc Brown connection outright (even though he’s a Universal character), but there is nothing to stop team members from having fun with the Easter egg.

I was lucky enough to attend a passholder preview day for Epic Universe, and I caught a few pieces of Back to the Future lore. There is a drawing of a flux capacitor in the How to Train Your Dragon-themed land. When I rode Stardust Racers, I could’ve sworn the coaster’s soundtrack briefly played a few notes from Alan Silvestri’s Back to the Future theme.

It seems as if Celestial Park is a secret Back to the Future-themed land. Not only that, but it greatly expands the BTTF lore. We can imagine that after the events of BTTF3, Doc Brown and his family traveled through space and time, and at some point he helped create Celestial Park. It would certainly explain the art deco and steampunk influences.

What’s more, the Chronos interdimensional portals imply that Back to the Future shares a multiverse with Super Mario, Harry Potter, How to Train Your Dragon, and Dark Universe. The 2015 video game Lego Dimensions explored a similar idea, crossing BTTF over with many other franchises such as Jurassic Park, Adventure Time, Scooby-Doo, Ghostbusters, and more.

Plus, the ending to the 2010 Back to the Future Telltale Game establishes that the multiverse exists within BTTF canon. The game was made under the supervision of BTTF co-creator Bob Gale, so it doesn’t get more authoritative than that.

We’ll never get Back to the Future 4 as a movie. Instead, we have a theme park which expands the lore, adds to Doc Brown’s story, and gives us one of the best roller coasters in the world. As Doc Brown’s former lab assistant once said, that’s heavy.

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Here's how to watch all the Back to the Future movies (and TV series!) in order.