James Mangold addresses Shia LaBeouf’s Mutt in Indiana Jones 5

This article contains spoilers for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.

It was 15 years ago that Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull tried to set up Shia LaBeouf’s Mutt Williams as the lead character for a fifth Indy movie. Thankfully to many, this is nixed. But how would the actual fifth installment, Dial of Destiny, handle this? As it turns out, in about the most convenient way possible.

Now, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny director James Mangold has said there was a need to address the Mutt character, no matter how much he and the movie were received, something LaBeouf himself has spoken out against in the past but Mangold insists played no part in how the character was written off. “It’s separate from all past studio, political intrigue on movies I didn’t make…You were either going to make a movie all about the two of them or you’re going to have to find a way to not have [Mutt] around, because he was too significant a player in the previous film to just pretend he didn’t exist.” Mangold seems to agree with the general consensus of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, adding, “I didn’t think his whole thing worked that well in the previous film. I just went towards something else because it was what was more interesting to me.”

What was more interesting to Mangold, it seems, was straight-up killing off Mutt Williams in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, revealing that he — the son of Indians Jones and Marion Ravenwood — died while serving in Vietnam.

Unfortunately for James Mangold, even without Mutt Williams on the scene, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is proving to be the worst-reviewed movie of the franchise, sitting at 68% on Rotten Tomatoes, below Kingdom of the Crystal Skull by 9%. Our own Chris Bumbray gave the movie a 5/10.

How do you feel about the way Mutt Williams was handled in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny? Was it done effectively or should the character have been ignored altogether? Give us your take below!