Harrison Ford Talks Waiting For Indiana Jones To Start And Why He Ramped Up Wildly From Only One Project Per Year

Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones in The Dial of Destiny
(Image credit: Lucasfilm)

Harrison Ford is still a huge star but he’s one that we don’t see as often as we once did. A long time ago the actor decided to cut back a bit and work at a slower pace, but with two different streaming shows dropping recently and a fifth Indiana Jones movie finally arriving soon, we’re seeing a lot more of Ford than we’re used it. It seems that's because the actor went a little stir-crazy. 

Speaking with THR, Harrison Ford was reminded that over 20-years-ago he said he was happy only working on one project a year. However, recently he made a big change to that, working on Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, the Yellowstone prequel 1923, and the Apple TV+ comedy Shrinking with Jason Segal, all in fairly quick succession. When asked why, Ford explained that after not working for so long during COVID, he felt a need to work more. The actor said:

The simplest answer is probably the most truthful: After two years of sitting on my ass during COVID, and waiting quite a few years for Indiana Jones to start, I had not done as much work as I wanted to and I wanted to do different things. So [Shrinking] came along, and then, very quickly after that, 1923 came along. I took the job without a script on both of them, on faith that the people who created the projects were going to deliver me a good script. I really didn’t realize how much work 1923 was going to be, and I absolutely feel it’s worth it. I’m excited to do another season of both.

While Harrison Ford found a remarkable level of fame and success with movie franchises like Star Wars and Indiana Jones, as an actor he’s always been willing to do different things. And the fifth Indiana Jones movie saw repeated delays even before the pandemic happened, so if he had limited himself to only that one project once it finally came around, he would have missed his chance at doing other things.

For somebody who previously had only done one movie a year, Ford clearly wanted to go out and do some new things if he said yes to two different series without seeing any scripts for either one. It's quite the statement of support to the creators of these shows that Ford had faith everything would turn out well.

And it definitely sounds like saying “yes” to these projects was the right call. Ford says he’s looking forward to doing more of both of the streaming series, and we know Season 2 of 1923 is on the way to those with a Paramount+ subscription. This means fans of Harrison Ford will likely continue to see him more often, and if that means the actor ends up doing more than one project a year for a while, that’s fine with him. 

Dirk Libbey
Content Producer/Theme Park Beat

CinemaBlend’s resident theme park junkie and amateur Disney historian, Dirk began writing for CinemaBlend as a freelancer in 2015 before joining the site full-time in 2018. He has previously held positions as a Staff Writer and Games Editor, but has more recently transformed his true passion into his job as the head of the site's Theme Park section. He has previously done freelance work for various gaming and technology sites. Prior to starting his second career as a writer he worked for 12 years in sales for various companies within the consumer electronics industry. He has a degree in political science from the University of California, Davis.  Is an armchair Imagineer, Epcot Stan, Future Club 33 Member.