‘Indiana Jones 5’ Will Be A “Continuation” Of ‘Crystal Skull,’ Frank Marshall Says Harrison Ford Will Be The Only Indy

Even though he’s got three more movies to get through —”The BFG,” “Ready Player One,” and “The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara“— speculation and nervousness is running high around Steven Spielberg‘s “Indiana Jones 5.” Fans were hoping it would be a corrective to “Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull,” at least until the production hired that film’s writer David Koepp to pen the screenplay for the new flick. So it looks like there will be no ignoring that unloved franchise chapter.

Variety is on the ground at CinemaCon, and according to the trade’s conversation with producer Frank Marshall, “Indiana Jones 5” will be a “continuation” of ‘Crystal Skull.’ What that means exactly isn’t clear. Does that mean Shia LaBeouf will be back? Doubtful. If anything, it probably just means that the character threads will pull through to the next movie, and it will be as connected as the previous movies are to each other (read: not much).

READ MORE: 10 Lessons ‘Indiana Jones 5’ Can Learn From ‘Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull‘

Of more interest is Marshall’s continuing assertion that there is only one man who can crack the whip and call himself Indiana Jones: Harrison Ford. “It’s all about the story. I think both in the ‘Jason Bourne’ series and on ‘Indiana Jones,’ we are not going to do the Bond thing,” he said about possibly rotating out actors. “We think those characters are iconic, and those are the only actors who can play that.”

Well, Disney doesn’t spend $4 billion dollars on a studio with a property like Indiana Jones to make one more movie (it likely won’t go beyond that, at least not starring Ford) before hanging it up. And if Disney can make a young Han Solo movie, who’s to say they won’t with Indy (in fact, there was already the TV series back in the day, “The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles“)? 

Thoughts? Let us know below. “Indiana Jones 5” opens on July 19, 2019.