As things stand, Indiana Jones 5 is set to start shooting in the next few months, but based on the tortured development process that saw Kingdom of the Crystal Skull take almost two decades to come together, there’s every chance that another spanner or two could yet be thrown into the works.
After all, the last we heard, the fifth installment in the beloved franchise doesn’t even have a completed script. Crystal Skull‘s David Koepp was initially tasked with cracking the story, before he was replaced by Solo‘s Jonathan Kasdan, who used an entirely different premise as the basis for his draft, but Kasdan was soon swapped out in favor of Disney veteran Dan Fogelman, who once again started from scratch.
Indiana Jones 5 is scheduled to hit theaters in July 2022, meaning the creative team is going to have to start ramping things up if they have any intention of meeting that date. So far, all we know is that Harrison Ford will once again don the iconic fedora for the last entry in the series, with Logan‘s James Mangold facing the daunting task of taking over from Steven Spielberg behind the camera.
There’s no word on any new or familiar faces being added to the cast as of yet, but John Rhys-Davies has admitted that he’d be open to the idea of returning as Sallah if he was asked by the studio, having been a mainstay of the original trilogy before sitting out Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
“I understand the film is going to be made, allegedly in May. I have the slightest skepticism that the world will be able to shoot a movie like that in May. I suppose it is possible that I will be asked to be in it. If nominated I will serve. But I think we ought to wait a little bit longer and, you know, let our masters actually make announcements and then you can either share my joy or my disappointment. Is that suitably diplomatic?”
The Lord of the Rings star turned down an appearance in the fourth movie because he was only approached for a cameo in the wedding scene at the very end and he wanted something much more substantial to do, but we’ll just have to wait and see if there’s a place for Sallah in Indiana Jones 5.