When Disney first acquired Star Wars, it wasn’t clear if that initial deal included Indiana Jones or not. We’ve since learned that Disney will be making Indiana Jones 5, with Steven Spielberg developing and Harrison Ford returning to reprise the role. That’s about all we knew about Disney’s plans for the iconic property, until now. New information has surfaced from Star Wars Celebration and it sounds like the mouse house has some huge adventures planned for good old Indy.
There’s been tons of new information coming from Star Wars Celebration, and we’ve gotten everything from new footage for Rogue One to the return of a fan favorite villain in Star Wars Rebels. Just because the event is mainly for Star Wars doesn’t mean we can’t get some teases for other properties as well. While attending the Lucasfilm: Art of Storytelling panel, our own Sean O’Connell was on hand to learn that Disney is devoting as much time to planning more Indiana Jones movies as they are Star Wars. ILM President Lynwen Brennan dropped this interesting detail while speaking about the long-term plans Lucasfilm has for its franchises.
Kiri [Hart] and her group have mapped out a story and timeline across multiple platforms many years in advance, many EXHAUSTING years in advance. … We have a great honor to have responsibility for, so we want to be really careful with that. Not only for Star Wars but with Indiana Jones, which we’re all really excited about as well.
It sounds like lots of Indiana Jones movies are in the works, but this raises quite a few questions. Star Wars lends itself easily to the concept of a shared universe, but Indiana Jones is about one character. How do you spread out multiple connected films about just one guy? It’s unlikely that Disney will be taking the Marvel Studios approach, so we could be seeing an all new type of an expanded franchise universe.
One way they could do it is by having different films focused on different characters, like an adult Short Round following in Indy’s footsteps or the Young Adventures of Henry Jones Sr.. That approach might be unlikely, though, mainly because it’s the character of Indiana Jones that draws us to his movies. Going by that logic, each movie would have to involve Indy in some capacity.
Another option is that the films will balance a new younger Indiana Jones with Harrison Ford’s older version. Indiana Jones 5 could introduce the younger recast Indy in flashbacks that somehow connect to what the older one is doing in the present day. Then the movies shift focus to being entirely about the new Indiana Jones. There’s no shortage of Indiana Jones stories to be told, but it’ll certainly be interesting to see what approach Disney and Lucasfilm are taking.
There’s still tons we don’t know about Indiana Jones 5 and the future of the character, so keep checking in with CinemaBlend and we’ll keep you updated as the information becomes available.