In the last four years, moviegoers have reunited with Han Solo and Rick Deckard, two of Harrison Ford’s most popular characters. And the actor’s not done with this nostalgia tour just yet, as he’s been attached for years to reprise Dr. Henry Jones Jr. in Indiana Jones 5. That said, contrary to recent news, the next installment of the whip-wielding archaeologist’s franchise will not begin filming later this month.
In case you missed it, last week Harrison Ford appeared alongside Mark Hamill, George Lucas and Billy Dee Williams at the grand opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland, during which time he also spoke with Variety and said that Indiana Jones 5 will begin shooting “sometime next week.” This was a surprising update, to say the least, as Indiana Jones 5 isn’t scheduled for release until 2021, and usually there's chatter months ahead of time on when a movie will specifically begin filming.
However, Variety has now updated Harrison Ford’s quote, which now says that Indiana Jones 5 will begin shooting “sometime next year.” It’s unclear if this misunderstanding is the result of a transcription error or if Harrison Ford misspoke and a Disney representative cleared up the matter (I’m guessing the latter), but either way, we’re still aways away from Indiana Jones 5 rolling cameras. Ford also said the following about the highly-anticipated movie:
I’m looking forward to it. Things are coming along well.
It is worth remembering that Indiana Jones 5 was initially slated to come out much earlier. Back in 2016, Walt Disney Studios scheduled it for July 19, 2019, so had the studio stuck with that plan, we’d be only a little over a month away from seeing Harrison Ford don the fedora again. Then in 2017, Disney pushed Indiana Jones 5 to July 10, 2020, and then in 2018, it was pushed back once more to its current July 2021 slot due to script rewrites.
It’s entirely possible that Indiana Jones 5 could be delayed yet again, but for now, it appears production will commence next year. By the time the movie comes out, it will have been 13 years since we last saw Harrison Ford play Indiana Jones, which was in the fan-derided Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
No plot details have come out for Indiana Jones 5, although it has been confirmed that Shia LaBeouf will not reprise Mutt Williams, a.k.a. Henry Jones III. The last big update on the movie came last week, when it was revealed that This Is Us’ Dan Fogelman was tackling the latest draft of the script.
As for the future of the Indiana Jones franchise after Movie #5, Harrison Ford made it perfectly clear that he doesn’t want anyone else playing Indy after he’s finished. There’s been talk in the past about Chris Pratt taking on the role, and Ford even told someone to break the bad news to Chris Pine, who’s played Jack Ryan, another role that used to belong to Ford.
It’ll be a long time before we learn if an Indiana Jones 6 is a possibility, if the franchise will be rebooted or perhaps, as rare as this happens nowadays, if no more Indiana Jones movies will be made. For now, fingers crossed that Indiana Jones 5 at least delivers a worthwhile conclusion for Indy, or at least one better than Kingdom of the Crystal Skull delivered.
Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more updates concerning Indiana Jones 5 as we slowly move closer to its July 9, 2021 release date. For now, you can plan your trips to the movie theater this year accordingly by consulting our 2019 release schedule.
