"I think this [next Indiana Jones movie] is straight down the pike for the fan,” Steven Spielberg tells The Hollywood Reporter in a new interview. “The one thing I will tell you is I'm not killing off Harrison [Ford] at the end of it."
Good. Were I to point out the thing I loved least about “The Force Awakens,” it would be Han Solo’s exit scene in that most recent Star Wars sequel.
Spielberg has also said recently that, if he has anything to say about it, no one beside Ford will ever play Indiana Jones. (Never mind that he’s already been played by Neil Boulane, Corey Carrier, Sean Patrick Flannery and George Hall on TV, or that Spielberg himself cast River Phoenix as Jones in “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.”)
Of course Spielberg doesn’t own Lucasfilm, and he won’t live forever, so I guess if some future Disney CEO elects to recast adventuring archaeologist Henry Jones Jr., Ford will only retain his status as the first man to play the role.
Which claws at this question: Would it be worse for future movies to follow someone new playing "Junior" or for future movies to follow the fellow born Henry Jones III, introduced to Indy fans as "Mutt."
Find all of the Reporter’s interview with Spielberg here.
