After long delays and many years of being an idea and a rumour, it finally looks as if the next Indiana Jones is gathering some speed towards actually being in production. The hope is now to get before the cameras at some point this summer for an intended 29th July, 2022 release.
First off, the essential key ingredient – Harrison Ford – formally signed up. Last week there was news that actor/writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge was coming aboard in an unknown role, though it is said to be the ‘female lead’. Now Mads Mikkelsen is down to join the ensemble, again with very little information on the role he’ll be playing. Mikkelsen’s catalogue of work includes Casino Royale, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Marvel’s Doctor Strange and his latest, the Oscar-nominated Another Round. He’ll soon appear in Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts 3 in which he replaces Johnny Depp as the evil Grindelwald.
The most recent entry was Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, released nearly thirteen years ago in 2008 (and set at the end of the 1950s) and saw the adventurer finally marry long-time love Marion (Karen Allen). It did well at the box-office but received very mixed reviews. James Mangold (The Wolverine) will be taking over the Indy franchise director’s chair from Spielberg, though Spielberg will stay on as a hands-on producer alongside Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Simon Emanuel. Composer John Williams, whose work is as important to the franchise as the actors, is also going to be back on board.
Though story elements are not known, there’s a general sense that the film could be set in the mid-1960s or later, reflecting the age of its hero and main star, who is now 78.
