In a universe where Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a booming success that everybody loves and can’t stop talk about, and also one where people adore Shia LaBeouf, his character Mutt Williams became the standard-bearer of a new lease on life for the franchise. He would swing through the trees and fight commies before riding away on his motorcycle. Then pizza would fall form the sky because anything is possible in this twisted universe.
Back in reality, people don’t much care of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Mutt Williams, or Shia LaBeouf, and yet there’s still the question of what to do with Indiana Jones 5, a series that Lucasfilm will keep alive because the name carries value. But how should they pass on that name?
Back in 2014, it was rumored that the series would go the James Bond route and carry on with new adventures and a different actor. However, series producer Frank Marshall spoke to Total Film (via Den of Geek) and said:
There are a lot of rumors. We haven’t even sat down to talk about Indy yet… at some point we’ll sit down. But there’s a bunch of people who could probably take the baton. [But we are] not doing the Bond thing where we’re going to call somebody else Indiana Jones… we have to figure this out.
It’s odd that he now says we haven’t even sat down to talk about Indy when fellow producer Kathleen Kennedy told Vanity Fair back in May, “We haven’t started working on a script yet, but we are talking about it.” The talks about Indiana Jones 5 might not be serious, but it’s too valuable of a property to let it gather dust.
I’m not sure why Marshall is opposed to calling some other actor Indiana Jones. It’s not like we’ll ever forget Harrison Ford originated the character, and I’m fine with more tales of old-fashioned adventure as long as they have a good script (please no origin story…please no origin story…). Perhaps they’re thinking a “legacy of Indiana Jones” series where one of his students or something goes adventuring, and that way they can keep Indy as a supporting character, but that feels like a bait-and-switch rather than passing of the torch.
How do you think they should progress with Indy 5? Should they go forward at all? Sound off in the comments.
