Indiana Jones 5 Producer Offers Update on Film, Confirms Harrison Ford is the “Only” Indiana Jones

This year saw a big shakeup with the upcoming Indiana Jones, as James Mangold was tapped to direct following Steven Spielberg’s departure from the project, with producer on the film Frank Marshall noting that the filmmakers are currently working on a new script but, whatever adventures the beloved archaeologist might get up to, Harrison Ford won’t be replaced with a new actor. This will surely alleviate any anxiety from fans that Ford wouldn’t be sporting his iconic fedora and whip in the upcoming adventure, especially given that the last film concluded with the implication that Indiana’s son could take up the mantle, only for Indiana himself to stop that notion in its tracks.

“We are working on the script,” Marshall shared with Den of Geek. “There will only be one Indiana Jones and that’s Harrison Ford. What I’m excited about with Jim [Mangold] is a great story. I think you see that in his movies like Ford Vs Ferrari. It’s all about characters and telling a good story. So I’m excited to see what he comes up with. I haven’t seen (the script) yet so I don’t know what to tell you.”

The last film in the franchise, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, came out in 2008, with every year that passes making a new film seem less likely. Due in part to the coronavirus pandemic, the upcoming film has seen a number of delays, with it currently slated to hit theaters in 2022. Despite the many delays and filmmaker changes, we shouldn’t think this will impact the quality of the upcoming film, as former writer David Koepp shared earlier this year that he wanted to take his work with the previous script out of the picture so that Mangold wouldn’t have to worry about honoring any components from it.

“I tried a couple different versions with Steven and they all had some good stuff about them and they all had some stuff that didn’t work, which happens,” Koepp detailed to Den of Geek in September. “But it was just very hard to have everybody come together and have all the elements — Steven, Harrison, the script, and Disney — come together at once. And it didn’t.”

He continued, “It’s a gracious time to step out the door because I think the last thing a new director wants is the old director’s writer. I mean, that’s a drag. The last thing you need is some guy sitting around with his arms folded saying, ‘Well, the way Steven would have done it is…’ I had one nice friendly conversation with him and then I’m sure he wanted to be able to move on anyway. Everybody was pretty polite, I thought.”

Indiana Jones 5 is currently slated to hit theaters on July 29, 2022.

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