Over the last month, we’ve started to get a clearer picture of what to expect from Indiana Jones 5 thanks to an integral step in the moviemaking process: casting. Naturally Harrison Ford will be back as adventuring archaeologist Dr. Henry Jones Jr., and now it’s been reported that he’ll be joined by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Kretschmann, Boyd Holbrook and Shaunette Renée Wilson. However, officially speaking, we’re still in the dark about Indiana Jones 5 plot details, but a wild new rumor has surfaced claiming that the story will throw the franchise into the space race.
Back in January, Indiana Jones 5 director James Mangold seemingly indicated that the movie would be set in 1960s New York City. Assuming the rumor shared by The Iluminerdi is accurate, while the Big Apple portion of Mangold’s statement remains to be confirmed, we will indeed be visiting the ‘60s in Indiana Jones 5, specifically the latter half of the decade, before NASA’s Apollo 11 landed on the moon in 1969. That means Indiana Jones 5 would take place roughly a decade after the events of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which saw Indy clashing with agents of the Soviet Union.
So how does the space race factor into Indiana Jones’ latest adventure? The rumor states that Mads Mikkelsen is playing the main villain, a scientist who worked for the Nazi regime and has now been recruited by NASA to work on the United States’ moon landing initiative. Naturally this unnamed individual will be up to no good, and he’ll be accompanied by a woman who’s described as a “an evil and brutal killer.” It’s unclear if this is Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s role or if someone else will play this character (supposedly Scarlett Johansson passed on the role), but the report also mentions that Shaunette Renée Wilson will appear as the CIA handler who’s been tasked with “babysitting” Mikkelsen’s character.
Obviously all of the above information should be taken with a grain of salt for now, but considering James Mangold’s previous comment about Indiana Jones 5 and how much time has passed since Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, having Dr. Jones get caught up in sinister machinations involving the space race sounds plausible. It also gives him another opportunity to punch at least one Nazi, having previously done a lot of that in Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade. Of course, when space enters the equation, I can’t help but wonder if aliens are also being thrown into the mix, just like in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
With Indiana Jones 5 expected to begin filming this summer, hopefully Disney and Lucasfilm will reveal the movie’s premise, or at least a few plot details, soon so we can learn whether this space race rumor is on the money or not. Whatever the story ends up being about, it will be one that James Mangold put together with Jez and John-Henry Butterworth. And although he passed off helming duties to Mangold, Steve Spielberg is still attached to the project as an executive producer.
Indiana Jones 5 is slated for a July 29, 2022 release, with Warner Bros’ Black Adam serving as its opening weekend competition. Learn what’s coming to theaters a little sooner than that by looking through our upcoming 2021 movies schedule.
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