I Played Indiana Jones And The Great Circle, And It Highlights One Big Missed Opportunity The Franchise Needs To Jump On

The most exciting Indiana Jones project in years came out recently, and it's not the Dial of Destiny movie. The Lucasfilm franchise partnered with Bethesda, which recently oversaw the television adaptation of its acclaimed franchise Fallout, and together, they made Indiana Jones And The Great Circle. It's a fantastic video game I spent many hours playing, and now that I've finished it, I think it's high time to point out the missed opportunity this franchise doesn't have a modern limited series.

After spending around 20 or so hours stopping fascists from obtaining great power, I'm wondering why I can't already use my Disney+ subscription to watch a new series very similar to this on streaming already. For those who have yet to check the game out, I'll explain why I think Lucasfilm needs to look into bringing its hero to the small screen and give us what could be one of the best shows we've seen from Disney in a while.

Indiana Jones And The Great Circle Proves This Franchise Could Pull Off A Limited Series

The main story of Indiana Jones And The Great Circle follows Indy heading to Vatican City after witnessing a giant man steal a relic from Marshall College's collection. This begins a journey across the world and several locations that crosses paths with all sorts of people and, of course, the Nazis. Jones does his usual galavanting across the globe and meets many unique characters, provided you interact with them. I know there are Indiana Jones fans who skipped Dial of Destiny, but they shouldn't do that with this game if they can help it.

If the player plows through the main story without exploring and doing side quests, the game clocks in at around fifteen hours. That's about five hours longer than the average streaming series, especially when it comes to Disney+ shows. If a game can tell an elongated Indiana Jones story, surely there's someone out in Hollywood who can make a series.

Indiana Jones And The Great Circle was able to elongate its story with a relic split into multiple pieces scattered across the globe. With this formula, Indy was required to travel the world and learn the fables and myths that led to the next relic. It's a formula that could easily be replicated for a series, though I'm sure there are more possibilities beyond just replicating the core formula the video game followed.

Multiple Exotic Shooting Locations Could Call For A Big Budget, But That's What Streaming Shows Do Best

As a world-renowned archeologist, Indiana Jones has been to some pretty wild places. Whether he's staying in ancient Italy or hiding out in the jungles of South America, an expectation of the franchise is that he'll be going to exotic locales. If you don't have that, it's not Indiana Jones, and even if you're not always on location, it has to look like you are.

Shooting multiple locations around the world is not a cheap endeavor and an expense I would say most shows wouldn't be able to justify. Indiana Jones can justify it, however, because it's always been about getting the viewer out of the United States and into the most fantastical locations around the world. If Disney is willing to spend $15 million an episode on Percy Jackson And The Olympians, I think it could handle whatever number is thrown at them for an Indiana Jones limited series.

In fact, Disney+ might be the only place capable of such an idea, given that streaming shows generally are getting inflated budgets in comparison to cable and network television. You won't see many shows on television that spend $120 million like The Mandalorian Season 1, and seeing as that's also a Lucasfilm-associated project, I wouldn't be surprised if an Indiana Jones series was given the same ballpark budget. This is just speculation though, and seeing as we don't actually have a series in the works, who can say for sure?

Indiana Jones And The Great Circle Also Proves We Don't Need Harrison Ford To Play The Main Character

Indiana Jones And The Great Circle has something going for it that previous projects in the franchise didn't. It was only burdened by replicating the voice of Harrison Ford, and could lean on graphics to recreate a younger version of the character. Troy Baker did a phenomenal job voicing a young Ford. He sounds like a dead ringer to the point you'll forget it's not Ford while playing. It's such an iconic character, it has me thinking this role could easily be recast and replicated by someone else.

As much as I applaud Dial Of Destiny's efforts to de-age Ford, we all know the clear limitations at this point of doing that. Uncanny valley is still very real when it comes to AI, and the human mind is very good at spotting when a human face doesn't look quite right. Beyond that, de-aging an actor doesn't mean the 82-year-old actor starts moving like he did decades prior. It's fine, he shouldn't have to, but it's all the more reason to let Harrison Ford live in peace and pass the torch to a new Indiana Jones.

There's no shortage of actors in Hollywood who could be the next Indiana Jones, and while there would be a transitional period of judgment from fans, it generally works out well. Look at Star Trek, which has recast many of its core characters for quite a while now. I know I'd much sooner see that than some AI attempt to bring back the past only for it to fall short.

Wait, Didn't Indiana Jones Try A Series Before?

Yes, I haven't forgotten about The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, which famously did not live up to the hype. Perhaps it was an idea ahead of its time, but I wouldn't use it as evidence that an Indiana Jones series is not viable. We live in a much different age with the streaming landscape, where big-budget shows reign supreme. I think it's time to give this franchise another shot when it comes to television, and if it succeeds, maybe it'll give Indiana Jones the boost the revival has tried to get at the box office for years.

Watch the Indiana Jones movies, including Dial of Destiny, on Disney+. For those wanting to check out The Great Circle, it's currently available on Xbox and PC, and will arrive on PS5 in Spring 2025.