Harrison Ford will return to another one of his iconic franchises in 2019, with the rumor-battling Indiana Jones 5 now confirmed. Ford will be joined by original director Steven Spielberg, with Deadline reporting he quietly started putting the project together back in February. Though Ford will be reprising his role as Dr. Jones, the rest of cast for the blockbuster franchise’s fifth installment has not been confirmed.
In a statement announcing what is sure to make them another mountain of cash, Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn called Indiana Jones "one of the greatest heroes in cinematic history," adding that he and the team are pretty stoked on Indy 5. "It’s rare to have such a perfect combination of director, producers, actor and role, and we couldn’t be more excited to embark on this adventure with Harrison and Steven."
Of course, given the fact that Lucasfilm is now very much a Disney thing, George Lucas is not expected to be involved with the project. As noted by Deadline, the significant gaps between previous sequels were reportedly due to Lucas and Spielberg needing to see "eye to eye" regarding each script. Thanks to Disney, that is apparently no longer the case.
When we last saw Ford as Indy on the big screen, he was joined by Shia LaBeouf (playing his son) in the totally decent but not exactly great Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Certain plot elements in Crystal Skull appeared to suggest that LaBeouf was being set up to take Ford’s throne in subsequent sequels, but that obviously never happened. In the years since Crystal Skull’s release, rumors of sequels and reboots and everything in between have careened in and out of headlines, most of them centered on Jurassic World star Chris Pratt.
Indiana Jones 5, which will eventually have a much longer title, is slated for release on July 19, 2019.
