Disney and Lucasfilm Looking to Develop an ‘Indiana Jones’ TV Series
It’s very early days for the show, which doesn’t yet have a creative team aboard. But the companies are looking to expand the franchise.
Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones in 'Raiders of the Lost Ark.'
Disney+ has been a place for the company to extend the already wide-reaching tentacles of the various franchises under its umbrella.
We’ve had a bevy of ‘Star Wars’ shows (which continues with the likes of ‘The Acolyte’, now in production under the leadership of Leslye Headland), a raft of Marvel TV series introducing new characters to the MCU or continuing the adventures of some such as Hawkeye and all sorts of other offerings for family audiences from Pixar, Disney Animation and others.
One notable exception – at least so far – has been Lucasfilm’s ‘Indiana Jones’, which in recent years, been confined to the big screen.
That, it would appear, is set to change. According to Variety, Disney and Lucasfilm are in the very early stages of exploring a new series set in the world of Dr. Jones, though given that they are only now meeting with writers to explore concepts, nothing is known about what this could be.
Given how much use Disney tends to get out of its various titles, it’s not out of the question that other writers and directors could re-cast Indy, even though that would meet with plenty of online backlash – as with the rumors that Chris Pratt could be taking over the role. He’s since said he won’t do it.
Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones in 'Raiders of the Lost Ark.'
It would seem nigh-on impossible for any series to be built around Harrison Ford as Indy, since the actor has firmly stated that he’s done slapping on the famous fedora and handling the whip. So, we are once again facing the possibility that someone else will play Indiana Jones.
It has happened in the past on TV – ‘The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles’, which ran for two seasons between 1992 and 1993 saw Sean Patrick Flanery playing, as the title suggests, a young Indy. The shows were retooled into TV movies later.
But the history of the franchise stretches back to the late 1970s, when George Lucas and Steven Spielberg hatched an idea for a movie about an adventurer inspired by the radio and movie series they loved when younger.
The result was the second iconic movie character for Ford after ‘Star Wars’ Han Solo. ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’, directed by Spielberg, debuted in 1981 and was a big success. Spielberg followed it with ‘Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom’ in 1984, ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’ in 1989 and ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ in 2008.
Incoming is a fourth entry, this time directed by James Mangold. It has yet to announce a title or plotline. But we do know it’ll feature Ford in what is likely to be his final appearance in the role (unless tempted back by a good offer to cameo in any possible series) and also stars Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Kretschmann, Boyd Holbrook, Toby Jones, Antonio Banderas and John Rhys-Davies, who returns to his role as Sallah from both ‘Raiders’ and ‘Last Crusade’.
The new movie will be in theaters on June 30th next year.
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