Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny Director Addresses a Helena Shaw Spinoff

The upcoming Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is meant to be the official sendoff for the titular archaeologist, but given the legacy of the character, it's hard to imagine a world where no future installments could ever emerge. With the upcoming film introducing us to Phoebe Waller-Bridge's Helena Shaw, some fans think Helena will carry on the mantle of the series, though Dial of Destiny director James Mangold confirms he personally has no interest in Helena's further adventures. Whether this means that a new figure will develop such stories is yet to be seen. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny hits theaters on June 30th.

"I'm not interested," Mangold admitted to Variety about developing future adventures for Helena. "I refuse. I just can't do it." 

He continued, "The amount of lore and Easter eggs and fan service starts to become antithetical to any of this stuff at a certain point. It isn't storytelling anymore. It's large-scale advertising."

Even if Mangold himself isn't interested in using Dial of Destiny to kick off a new franchise focusing on Helena, Lucasfilm could have entirely different ideas. According to studio president Kathleen Kennedy, such a spinoff is "entirely possible" but the studio is "not having any of those conversations right now. We're just focused on finishing this with Harrison."

The Indiana Jones series is only one corner of the Lucasfilm catalog, with Star Wars occupying a major piece of real estate at the studio. While the galaxy far, far away has a more expansive mythology that allows for spinoffs, the Indiana Jones films -- and the TV series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles -- all centered on the title character. 

While it might be hard to imagine the series continuing without Harrison Ford, Kennedy previously confirmed that a TV series set in the universe was more likely than another film.

"It's Harrison's last entry. That's how we look at the Indy franchise," Kennedy shared with the Dagobah Dispatch podcast last month. "I mean, truthfully, right now, if we were to do anything, it might be in series television down the road, but we're not doing anything to replace Indiana Jones. This is it."

She added, "There are five movies that Harrison Ford did. And Harrison is so specific and so unique to creating this role. We just, Steven [Spielberg] agrees, we just wouldn't do that."

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 hits theaters on June 30th.

Would you like to see the franchise continue without Ford? Let us know in the comments!