As we approach the year-long countdown to Indiana Jones 5, we slowly start to get bits and pieces of information that will help us put together what we can expect from Harrison Ford’s fifth incursion as the legendary archeologist and fan-favorite character. In an interview with A.Frame, film producer and five-time Academy Award nominee Frank Marshall (Jurassic World Dominion) decided to take fans’ expectations and throw them… Well, into the stratosphere.
"It's a great story, it's a great character, and I think you're going to be very happy with this movie. It's everything I think that everybody wants out of an Indiana Jones movie. […] Making ‘Raiders [of the Lost Ark]’ was really, I'd say, my favorite experience of making a movie. There was a whole lot of firsts on that movie. And staying with Indy all these years has just made it a real pleasure. To be able to now do another one has just been fantastic."
Of course, the producer chose to stay mum on further details from the story, as fellow producer Steven Spielberg, movie director James Mangold and Marshall himself have been doing all this time. So far, we’ve only got a first-look image that isn’t too revealing: It features the title character’s silhouette inside a cave. Aside from this, we don’t have much to lean on, but the producer’s quote is revealing in one aspect: If the upcoming blockbuster is everything “everybody wants out of an ‘Indiana Jones’ movie”, this can hint at the fact that the adventure is going back to its roots.
The little information we have seems to confirm that, since behind-the-scenes footage captured back in 2021 suggested that the Nazis are making a comeback in the story. The producer could also be suggesting that some elements are going to be left behind – in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, fans did not receive alien-related storylines really well, even though they were pretty happy to see Indiana again: The movie grossed almost $800 million at the box office worldwide, which prompted this sequel that has been in the works for years.
Marshall might also be suggesting that there will be no follow-up to Shia LaBeouf’s character arc. He was introduced in the last installment as Indiana’s son, but since LaBeouf’s career has had its ups and downs ever since 2008, it’s unlikely that his character Mutt Williams will be featured in Indiana Jones 5. At this point, the only confirmed members of the cast aside from Ford are Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag), Mads Mikkelsen (Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore), and Antonio Banderas (Uncharted).
On the other hand, a movie that everybody wants is certainly full of adventure, mythological tales, quips from the title character, and a couple of plot twists – if that’s what’s in store for us, Marshall definitely knows that we’re in for a heck of a ride.
Indiana Jones 5 premieres in theaters on June 30, 2023.