Work on the long-awaited fifth installment to the Indiana Jones franchise has kicked into high gear over the past year. Since 2008 after the release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the project had been seemingly stuck in quicksand, with former steward Steven Spielberg passing the film onto his predecessor and writing duties becoming a proverbial hot potato being passed around from one creative to another. With director James Mangold hard at work on post-production though, this mythical movie is more real than ever. Now, with D23 underway and the whip-cracking adventure featured, we now know the likely final movie in Harrison Ford's tenure will be called Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.

Despite now knowing the title, we're still a bit hazy as far as the plot details go. Carrying on from the very divisive Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Indy's latest outing will have to come to terms with many of the narrative elements introduced way back in 2008. That film broke the door wide open for sci-fi elements to invade the globe-trotting explorer's world and there has been speculation that this next film could go even further with time travel. Moreover, the ending of the last film implies this will be a big coming-out-of-retirement-style movie for Indy, giving him one last adventure before passing the torch to the next generation.

Joining Ford on his seemingly final adventure is a star-studded ensemble headed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, Boyd Holbrook, Antonio Banderas, Toby Jones, and Thomas Kretschmann. In addition to directing, Mangold wrote the script for the film with the help of brothers Jez and John-Henry Butterworth. This will mark the first time in the franchise's history that legendary director Steven Spielberg won't be at the helm of the franchise, but he is still on to executive produce. Composer John Williams is also back once more to provide the franchise with an epic soundtrack once again.

harrison ford as indiana jones in indiana jones 5
Image via Empire

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So far, confidence in the possible final entry to the franchise is running high among those working with the production. Following the disappointment of the franchise's more supernatural, alien-centric fourth adventure, there's hope that this time around will leave the franchise off on a good note with more traditional adventuring that made it a household name. Producer Frank Marshall, who's been with Indiana Jones since the beginning, recently assured that it's everything fans want out of Indy and more, thus sending hype through the roof in the process.

Indiana Jones 5 has faced many setbacks due to pandemic woes, troubled production, and just about everything under the sun, but the film is now less than a year away, arriving on June 30, 2023. While we finally have a name, there's still so much left to be discovered about Indy's latest adventure which could bring this era of adventure films to a close.

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