Don’t expect Steven Spielberg to kill off Indiana Jones for the fifth movie

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

Steven Spielberg won't be sending Harrison Ford to the grave at the end of the next Indiana Jones movie. 

There are no plot details of the fifth film in the franchise that anyone involved in the sequel is willing to discuss at this juncture… however, Steven Spielberg made it a point during a new profile The Hollywood Reporter has done on him to point out that while death is inevitable for everyone, it's not something entering into the equation for Indy. 

The one thing I will tell you is I'm not killing off Harrison [Ford] at the end of it.

That settles that. 

Spielberg has been adamant about Ford-or-bust when it comes to the Indy series, so, by the filmmaker's own words, we may just get Ford riding off into the sunset with the satisfying ending we'd like Indiana Jones to have – you know, like he got in INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE – rather than something more concrete than death. And, even though I have heard from multiple sources that Disney has, in the past, certainly discussed the idea of carrying on the series with another actor in the role, it won't be happening anytime soon. The passing of the torch idea didn't work out one bit with Shia LaBeouf, and Spielberg has no desire to go back to that well. That leaves us with Ford as Indy until he isn't – a bridge that'll be crossed when it needs to be… a conversation for another day far down the road.

As for what fans can expect from INDY 5, Spielberg at least offers up this one little nugget of optimism:

I think this one is straight down the pike for the fans.

Hopefully that means less aliens and getting back to basics with more Nazis. 

The fifth Indiana Jones film is scheduled for a release date of July 19, 2019.