Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny Director Explains Why Ke Huy Quan Doesn't Return As Short Round

By Jamie Jirak

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny had its big premiere in Los Angeles last night, and Ke Huy Quan was one of the many stars in attendance. Earlier this year, Quan won an Academy Award for his performance in Everything Everywhere All At Once, but before he was an Oscar-winning actor, Quan was known best for his childhood roles as Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Data in The Goonies. Last year, Quan reunited with his Indy co-star Harrison Ford at D23, and fans have been calling for Quan's return to the franchise ever since. Unfortunately, the actor doesn't appear in the fifth Indy film, and director James Mangold explained the reason while chatting with IGN earlier this week. 

"We looked at all these different things, but the first thing we were trying to do was assemble a story that made sense in the present, meaning in the 1969 section of the movie," Mangold said. "If you notice... the only person we follow through the whole way is Indy himself. Joined by Helena [Shaw, played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge], and I felt like we needed to have a female lead who challenged him. But we looked at all these different things and tried to figure out how they would work. I just didn't want another adult along for the ride."

Mangold added of Quan's recent success, "It's also thrilling what he's done this year, and I'm so happy for him to have suddenly found an entirely new picture to assert both his acting talent and his incredible martial arts skill." 

James Mangold Shares His First Indiana Jones Experience:

"It's on this day that I went and saw it in Middletown, New York at the Orange County Cinema," Mangold told ComicBook.com on the 42nd anniversary of Raiders of the Lost Ark. "I was alone on the first matinee. And blown away," Mangold shared. "It's crazy," he added when asked how it feels to be making his own Indy film. "I mean, on the simplest level, if you go back to the 17-year-old sitting there, I knew I wanted to be a movie director, although seeing Raiders was only galvanizing that feeling. But if you told me that I'd be making a movie with those people on the screen, that would blow my mind." 

Related:

The iconic Harrison Ford returns for one last adventure when Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny premieres in theaters on June 30th. Lucasfilm's latest film in the long-running franchise sees Dr. Jones team up with his goddaughter Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) in a race against nefarious forces to secure a powerful artifact. The duo will go up against the mysterious former Nazi-turned-NASA scientist Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen), and the film also features stars Boyd Holbrook, Antonio Banderas, Toby Jones, and John Rhys Davies. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is directed by James Mangold and is set to be Ford's final appearance as the iconic archeologist.

 Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny his theaters on June 30th.

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