He’s just rebooted Harrison Ford’s other most popular character, Han Solo, in Solo: A Star Wars Story, and now Jonathan Kasdan has got the job of bringing another one of the actor’s iconic heroes back to the big screen in Indiana Jones 5.
First announced in 2016 and initially set to be released in 2019, Steven Spielberg is, of course, returning to direct, and his old collaborator David Koepp (Jurassic Park) was attached to provide the script. Now, however, we’re learning that Kasdan has been brought on to rewrite the original screenplay.
While Solo wasn’t exactly a hit with critics or fans, the scribe is a solid choice for the job here, as his father, Lawrence Kasdan, co-wrote the original Indy movie Raiders of the Lost Ark back in 1981. Jonathan has closely followed in his dad’s footsteps ever since and the pair even worked on the aforementioned Solo together.
Unfortunately, Collider’s report doesn’t confirm if Jonathan will have a writing partner here or if he’ll be basing his work on Koepp’s draft or starting again from scratch. Whatever the case, though, assuming Kasdan’s scripting process goes smoothly, the movie should still be on track to head into production in the United Kingdom in April 2019, with a theatrical release set for July 10th, 2020.
Also of note is that it’s already been confirmed that George Lucas will have nothing to do with the story of Indiana Jones 5, despite writing all four of the previous movies starring the lovable archaeologist. Considering the last one he penned was the infamous Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, maybe that’s for the best. Let’s just hope that Kasdan will make this a highpoint for the character to go out on, as it’s expected that this will be the last time Harrison Ford plays the iconic hero.