Fans of Indiana Jones had to wait 19 years for Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and though it did earn almost $800 million at the box office, the reception from both audiences and critics wasn’t great. Despite this, a fifth installment has been in the works for years now, with Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm ensuring that no popular franchise would ever be allowed to be retired.
First announced back in March of 2016, Indiana Jones 5 has gone through several release dates and countless writers have come and gone over the years, all while director Steven Spielberg and star Harrison Ford continue to confirm that it’s still happening. And while we don’t doubt them, the current release date of July 9th, 2021 doesn’t give the team a ton of time to get things going and there still hasn’t been a whole lot of progress.
Despite this, though, Lucasfilm head honcho Kathleen Kennedy spoke to BBC News recently and told them that the sequel is indeed on the way and will pick up shortly after the events of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. And better yet, she also confirmed Ford’s involvement – not that we needed her to – and said that the actor “can’t wait” to make the film.
Unfortunately, Kennedy wouldn’t share any plot details, but with Ford now pushing 80, we can’t imagine he’ll be getting in on too much of the action. And though she says it won’t be a reboot and will continue from where the last film left off, we assume that the actor’s age means that the fifth installment will be more of a passing of the torch movie, with the seeds being planted for the ‘new Indy’ – be it a previously unseen family member or someone unrelated to the beloved hero.
In any case, with reports saying that Disney is also planning an Indiana Jones TV show for Disney Plus, it’s clear that they still have big things in store for the franchise. Let’s just hope they get moving quickly, as like we mentioned above, Ford isn’t getting any younger.
