Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny Director Addresses Expectations That He Would Kill Indy

Heading into Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, star Harrison Ford made it clear that this would be his final adventure as the archaeologist, leading many fans to assume that Indy would become a relic himself, just like the ones he dug for in the dirt. Part of what made fans expect that the film would focus on Indy’s demise is that it was directed by James Mangold, who had previously killed off a beloved character in Logan. Regardless of expectations from audiences, Mangold recently recalled how he and his fellow writers never deviated from their instinctive trajectory for the hero. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is in theaters now.

WARNING: Spoilers below for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Even though the finale of the film sees Indiana traveling back to 200 B.C. and he asks Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) to leave him there, she instead knocks him out and takes him back to their time. Rather than depicting his death, the finale leaves Indiana by reuniting him with his estranged wife Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen).

“I think everyone, particularly, because I made Logan and wrote it as well, there was a lot of anxiety that I was just going to turn into the icon executioner,” Mangold joked with Entertainment Weekly. “Honestly, I enjoy that people were so atwitter about it, because to me, there really is no attraction to just getting thousands of people in a theater and hitting them in a head with a hammer… Death is not an ending. The reason death worked in Logan is because of the beautiful irony of his death, which is that he lived such a painful life, that it was only in the last 30 seconds of his life that he actually got to experience love. And that to me was what was so moving about that ending.”

Given that Hugh Jackman is returning for the upcoming Deadpool 3, even Mangold joked, “And [Jackman’s] off making another one right now. So you could see the finality of that.”

According to Ford, it wasn’t even a discussion about whether or not the character should die, as he felt entirely motivated by what was in the script.

“The script came out, and it didn’t have Indiana Jones dying, so we didn’t really need to talk about it,” Ford pointed out. “It came up in conversation a few times, and [Mangold] said he didn’t want to be the one to kill me.”

The iconic Harrison Ford returned for one last adventure as Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny premiered 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 Ford’s final appearance as the iconic archeologist.

What do you think of the filmmaker’s remarks? Let us know in the comments!