When Steven Spielberg and George Lucas first put their heads together all those years ago to create their own counterpart to James Bond, who could’ve expected that they would dream up one of the most legendary cinematic characters of all time? Over 40 years on from his debut, Indiana Jones remains pop culture royalty, hence the arrival of the long-awaited fifth movie in the franchise, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
This one is being pitched as the 80-year-old Harrison Ford’s final outing as the whip-cracking, treasure-hunting, snake-fearing hero, but although this may sound like the end of Indy, history has in fact shown us that the character is more than the man who plays him. In fact, several other performers have inhabited the point of Indiana Jones over the decades. Some with more aplomb than others, it has to be said, but still.
So with Indy back in theaters where he belongs, there’s no better time than to rank every single actor who’s played the immortal archaeologist on screen.
Tony Cox
The next time someone tells you 2008’s Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is the worst Indiana Jones movie, point them in the direction of that same year’s Disaster Movie, a film whose title handily reviews itself. In one woefully unfunny sequence, Matt Lanter’s protagonist Will discovers his father is Indiana Jones, who is here portrayed by Tony Cox with a lecherous, sleazy personality that has little resemblance to the iconic character outside of his dress sense. Bring back the aliens. All is forgiven, George Lucas.
Neil Boulane
It feels a little weird to rank the acting performance of a baby, but Neil Boulane is included here for the sake of completion. Boulane is credited for one episode of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (which was later repackaged as the “My First Adventure” segment in the Adventures of Young Indiana Jones recut TV movie). In one memorable moment, the infant Indy instantly bonds with his beloved dog Indiana as a puppy, teasing how the hero later takes the pet’s name for his own.
Corey Carrier
Although The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles was very much Sean Patrick Flanery’s show (more on him in a moment), a handful of episodes instead focused not on the teenage Indy but Indy in his childhood. For any adventure depicting Junior between the ages of eight and 11, Indy was played by Corey Carrier, who offers a spirited performance. Elementary school-age Indy is much as you would expect, eager to explore and frequently a handful for his much-suffering parents.
George Hall
The unexpected longevity of the Indiana Jones franchise means that George Hall, who plays Old Indy in the bookend segments of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, was actually younger than Harrison Ford is now. Hall’s version of Dr. Jones is very much stricken from canon at this point, then, and honestly it was always hard to match his cyclopic, more crotchety take on the character with the one portrayed by Ford. In fact, Ford took over as old Indy himself for one very memorable episode.
Anna Kendrick
Yes, you read that right. Anna Kendrick has played Indiana Jones. In 2016, to spoof the all-female Ghostbusters reboot, British telethon Red Nose Day featured a skit in which the Pitch Perfect actress played a gender-swapped Indy. The two-minute sketch sees Kendrick redoing the Holy Grail scene from The Last Crusade, but in her own unique way. It’s a gently funny bit and a much more loving and effective parody of Indy than Disaster Movie. Anna Kendrick as Indy in a Disney Plus series when?
Sean Patrick Flanery
Sean Patrick Flanery has gone on to have a solid career and is regularly seen on screens today, in guest roles on TV shows like Criminal Minds, Dexter, and The Boys, but he’ll always be Young Indiana Jones for a generation of fans who were glued to the ABC series back in the early-to-mid ’90s. Flanery’s Indy is a lot more innocent than Ford’s version, of course, but that fits the family-oriented aims of the series and he makes for a likable lead, building off the character of Young Indy already created in the movies…
River Phoenix
The very first actor not called Harrison Ford who had the honor of playing Indiana Jones, however, is naturally River Phoenix, who appeared in the opening scenes of The Last Crusade, which revealed the all-important backstory of our beloved adventuring archaeologist. The much-missed Phoenix, who sadly died just four years after this film at the age of 23, is superb in the role. That shouldn’t come as a surprise given that Ford personally pitched him for the part, after co-starring with Phoenix in The Mosquito Coast.
Harrison Ford
I know right? What a shocking turn of events! Well, obviously, the number one spot was never going to be claimed by anyone other than the one, the only, the original, the unbeatable Indiana Jones. There’s a reason that, despite the internet often theorizing about Young Indy movies with, say, Chris Pratt in the role, Steven Spielberg always maintained that the role of Dr. Jones would never be recast. There may be many James Bonds, but to the world at large there is only one Indiana Jones.