Rumor has it Harrison Ford will pass his fedora to his Indiana Jones 5 co-star Phoebe Waller-Bridge.
The Daily Mail reported that Waller-Bridge is "tipped" to replace Ford as the Indiana Jones franchise's lead after the fifth movie hits theaters. According to the outlet's insider sources, this is one of the "big, bold" changes Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy wants to make to the property after Ford concludes his run as the famous bullwhip-cracking archaeologist in the film to keep it going strong moving forward.
Reportedly, Indiana Jones 5 takes place in the late 1960s and pits Ford's globe-trotting hero against Mads Mikkelsen's character, a former Nazi scientist who now works for NASA. While details about Waller-Bridge's role are scarce to come by, the Daily Mail's sources claim she is playing Dr. Jones' assistant in the movie.
Waller-Bridge is the creator and star of Fleabag, the critically acclaimed dramedy series based on her one-person play about a free-spirited but emotionally traumatized woman living in modern London. She also created the award-winning Killing Eve, an adaptation of Luke Jennings' Villanelle books that centers on a British intelligence officer's cat-and-mouse game with an eccentric assassin. What's more, Waller-Bridge has a history with Lucasfilm, having played the droid L3-37 in 2018's Solo: A Star Wars Story.
Should this Indiana Jones 5 rumor pan out, it would be the second time the franchise introduced a character who could potentially replace Ford's iconic adventurer as the series' lead. 2008's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull similarly brought Shia LaBeouf into the mix as Mutt, Indiana's motorcycle-riding son. However, word broke that Mutt wouldn't return for any future Indiana Jones movies as far back as 2017, well before LaBeouf's ex-girlfriend FKA twigs sued him over allegations of sexual battery and abuse in December 2020.
At last year's Disney's Investors Day event, Kennedy confirmed Indiana Jones 5 would "conclude this iconic character's journey." But beyond that, she and the film's creatives have refrained from announcing what the future could hold for the franchise on the big screen.
Among those joining Ford, Waller-Bridge and Mikkelsen in the Indiana Jones 5 cast are Antonio Banderas, Thomas Kretschmann, Boyd Holbrook, Shaunette Renée Wilson and Toby Jones, with Logan director James Mangold calling the shots. The film opens in theaters on July 29, 2022.
Source: Daily Mail