Harrison Ford to return as archaeologist for one last adventure on the big screen.
Harrison Ford will, for the fifth and final time, step into the shoes of archaeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones – and no doubt the character will again find himself a world of trouble.
Indiana Jones 5 will be Ford’s final outing
Ford is 80 next month and has confirmed he’ll be hanging up his bull whip after this movie, which is currently in post-production.
Producers have also confirmed its central character will not be recast. Ford is Indy, he’s the sine qua non. He owns the role.
Unlike other recasting and rebooting, like the Batman or James Bond franchises which were adapted from comics and books, Indiana Jones didn’t exist in any other medium prior to the movies.
He was created for the screen by George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, and brought to life by Harrison Ford.
Director James Mangold has not revealed the main plot to the as yet untitled movie (provisionally called Indiana Jones 5), which is expected in June 2023.
Steven Spielberg has this time taken an executive producer role.
It has also been reported that the film will feature a digitally de-aged Harrison in flashback scenes.
The process was first used in X-Men: The Last Stand in 2006 where characters Magneto (Ian McKellen) and Xavier (Patrick Stewart) were digitally de-aged.
But it wasn’t until The Irishman in 2019 that the process was (nearly) perfected. Three years on from that and we should get a spectacular version of the young Dr Jones.
The idea for the fifth outing for Indy was hinted at after the release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull back in 2008
But it was widely reported that George Lucas couldn’t find a good enough plotline for the archaeologist turned whipping boy.
When Disney bought Lucasfilm in 2012 talk began again, but it wasn’t until James Mangold signed up in 2020 that things were nailed firm.
The movie will also star the fantastic Phoebe Waller-Bridge, star and creator of comedy Fleabag, and the equally superb Mads Mikkelsen.
Ford is in great shape for his age, however it’s over 40 years since he took the character on in Raiders Of The Lost Ark. He can’t continue the exhausting role into his 80s. It will draw a definitive line under the franchise and one of the best movie series ever made.
Fellow producer and Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy has reiterated that they won’t make Indiana Jones movies without Ford.
The movie is expected June 30th, 2023.