We’ve long known that a fifth Indiana Jones film is on the cards – with Disney now owning the rights via its Lucasfilm acquisition, and director Steven Spielberg confirmed to be back on board. But after an initial plan to shoot the film in mid-2018 didn’t pan out, things have been pretty quiet on the Indy front. Until now, that is – because according to star Harrison Ford, set to return in the fedora, production on the next instalment is surprisingly close. In a new interview with CBS, the actor suggested that he’ll be back in archaeologist-adventurer mode in a matter of months.
When asked about returning to play his beloved characters like Han Solo and Indiana Jones, Ford said: “…I’m gonna start doing Indiana Jones in about two months. I’m always delighted to come back to these characters. We have the opportunity to make another because people have enjoyed them. I feel obliged to make sure that our efforts are as ambitious as they were when it started. You have a sense of responsibility to your customers. I think of the people who go to my movies more as customers than I do as ‘fans’, ‘fans’ feels kind of weird to me, always has. But the fact that these people support my business, and I’m responsible to them for the quality of the service that I offer.”
By the sounds of it, then, Indiana Jones 5 could be a go around April or May – which would make sense, considering Steven Spielberg wrapped on his upcoming West Side Story adaptation a little while back. Still, other signs of imminent production – like a string of cast announcements or confirmation from the studio – are still absent for the moment, so keep an eye out for more news trickling out in the coming weeks. With the film having been in various states of production over the years, it remains to be seen who’s officially on scripting duties for this one – with David Koepp and Jonathan Kasdan having been involved along the line. Will it make it for that proposed July 2021 release date? On all those fronts, we await the official Disney-Lucasfilm press release…