Sean Connery’s experience on box office dud The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen ended up drawing a line under the mainstream careers of both the legendary actor and director Stephen Norrington. The two parties would frequently clash throughout a troubled shoot, but at least Connery had the benefit of being a major star who was paid $17 million for his efforts, while the latter hasn’t stepped behind the camera since.
During his self-imposed retirement, the Academy Award winner turned down a huge number of offers to make a comeback, which notably included a fourth Indiana Jones movie. Henry Jones Sr. was involved in several of the many drafts that the script went through over the course of two decades, but after speaking with Steven Spielberg, Connery made it clear that he wasn’t interested.
However, following his recent passing at the age of 90, it was revealed that Indiana Jones would be the one thing that could have tempted him back onto the big screen, but unfortunately the timing never worked out. The fifth installment in the beloved franchise is currently in pre-production, though, and still eying a spring start date for filming, and insider Daniel Richtman is claiming that James Mangold’s continuation of the series will pay tribute to Connery in some fashion.
While he offers no further details, it likely isn’t going to be too on the nose, and we’ve seen Indiana Jones pay tribute to former stars before. For instance, Denholm Elliott, who played Marcus Brody in the original trilogy, died in 1992 but still had a noticeable presence in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. His image appeared in a painting seen in a background shot, a photo on Indy’s desk and a statue placed at the heart of the fictional Marshall College campus. As such, we imagine something similar will no doubt be used to honor Sean Connery’s legacy.
