When Disney completed their purchase of Lucasfilm in 2012, most of the focus was placed on the Mouse House assuming control of Star Wars, which was completely understandable. After all, the sprawling sci-fi saga presented a blank canvas on which to tell any number of stories set in a galaxy far, far away, even if the majority of them so far have stuck almost too rigidly to names, faces and locations that we’ve already seen countless times before.
Of course, Disney also acquired the rights to Indiana Jones, but the future of the whip-cracking archeologist was a lot less certain. The four installments may have raked in close to $2 billion at the box office and rewarded audiences with three of the greatest adventure movies ever made and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but unlike Star Wars, without Harrison Ford’s continued involvement, interest in the franchise would diminish significantly.
There were rumors that the role might even end up being recast, though with Indiana Jones 5 still eying a July 2022 release date, longtime series producer Frank Marshall confirmed that it’s going to be the last outing for the iconic hero and nobody else except Ford will ever play the part.
What the film may bring us is still unclear, but insider Daniel Richtman is now claiming that it’ll reportedly set up multiple spinoffs focusing on new characters. Unfortunately, he doesn’t offer any further details aside from that, but we all know that Disney love to milk a cash cow for all it’s worth. That being said, trying to justify the existence of new Indiana Jones projects without Ford’s presence will no doubt be an uphill battle.
