‘Indiana Jones 5’ Won’t Be The Last One; George Lucas Still Executive Producing
In news that should surprise absolutely no one, Disney has no plans to end theIndiana Jonesfranchise after the upcoming fifth film. They may, however, have plans to reboot it. CEOBob Igersays while we shouldn’t expect aStar Wars-style Indiana Jones universe, the series might head in a new “direction.”
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves here. At the moment, Disney is still developingIndiana Jones 5. The studio has alreadyannouncedthatSteven Spielbergwill be back to direct, withHarrison Fordstarring andJohn Williamsscoring. Now we’ve learned thatGeorge Lucaswill be back as well, serving as an executive producer.
The Bearded Triocaught Spielberg’s latest update onIndiana Jones 5during a press event forThe BFG. “George is going to be an executive producer on it with me,” Spielberg said of the swashbuckling archaeologist’s next daring adventure. “I would never make anIndiana Jonesfilm without George Lucas. That’d be insane.”
Before you start getting panicked flashbacks toIndiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, it’s worth keeping in mind that an executive producer credit doesn’t necessarily mean Lucas will have a lot of creative input. We’ve heard before that Lucaswould not be involvedwith the story forIndiana Jones 5, and that may still be the case.
What we can say is thatIndiana Jones 5seems to be in pretty good hands overall.Frank MarshallandKathleen Kennedy(who knows a thing or two about reviving long-dormant movie franchises) are producing, andDavid Koepp(Jurassic Park)is writing the script. And while we have very few details about the plot of the new film, we can tell you how it’ll end — or rather, how it won’t end. Spielberg has promised hewon’t kill off Indiana Jonesin this one.
And now we also know there will be moreIndiana Jonespictures to come. In a conversation withThe Hollywood Reporter, Iger touched upon the future ofIndiana Jones. Asked whether it might become a full-fledged “universe,” like Lucasfilm’s other signature property, Iger responded, “Not likeStar Wars, no. But we hope … right now, we’re focused on a reboot, or a continuum and then a reboot of some sort.”
That’s pretty vague, and things didn’t get any clearer as Iger kept talking. “Well, we’ll bring [Harrison Ford] back, then we have to figure out what comes next. That’s what I mean. It’s not really a reboot, it’s a boot — a reboot. I don’t know,” he continued. “We [got] Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones in the film. But then what’s the direction? I’ve had discussions about what the direction is, [but] I don’t want to get into it.”
Marshall has insisted thatIndiana Jonesisn’t going to"do the Bond thing"and simply cast a new character as Indy. But that doesn’t preclude the possibility of casting a younger Indy for a prequel, or passing on the torch to a different character. While Iger won’t confirm it outright, it sounds like the tentative plan is to followIndiana Jones 5with a sequel that doubles as a soft reboot — a “requel” or “legacyquel,” a laCreed.
Again, no surprise there. Spielberg has convincingly argued that at 73, Ford isnot too oldto play Indy. But he probably is too old to lead an action franchise that Disney surely hopes will keep going for years to come, creating younger new fans while bringing back older ones. Again, though, first things first. For now, let’s hopeIndiana Jones 5is good enough to make uswantto see anIndiana Jones 6and beyond.
