Don’t expect to bid adieu to Indiana Jones anytime soon. With a bona fide sequel currently in the pipeline for 2019, Disney Chairman Bob Iger has teased the company’s plans for cinema’s most endearing archaeologist beyond Indiana Jones 5.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Iger danced around the specific details of Disney’s brainstorming process, but did confirm that Indy 5 “won’t be just a one-off” when it releases in a few years’ time.
Exactly where the House of Mouse takes Indiana Jones after its fifth mainline installment is still up for debate so early on in the sequel’s lifecycle, though Iger cautioned he doesn’t expect Disney to spin out a bona fide universe around Ford’s wisecracking treasure hunter.
“Not like Star Wars, but we hope… right now, we’re focused on a reboot, or a continuum and then a reboot of some sort. Well, we’ll bring him 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. 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. I don’t think it reaches the scale of the universe of Star Wars, but I see making more. It won’t be just a one-off.”
Star Wars may stand as the crown jewel in Lucasfilm’s vault, but let’s no forget that Disney also acquired rights to the Indiana Jones series all the way back in 2012. That ensures the franchise has a future under the House of Mouse up to 2019 and beyond, and the fact that Iger and Co. have plans to continue the adventure leads us to believe that recasting the title role of Indy will be all but inevitable in a few years’ time.
Indiana Jones 5 is penciled in for release on July 19, 2019 – just don’t expect Harrison Ford to bite the bullet.
