ABC’s The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles was way ahead of its time in terms of conception, if not execution. These days, small screen spinoffs based on major blockbuster franchises are all the rage, but despite being created, developed and executive produced by George Lucas and boasting a sizeable budget for the era, the show was canceled after two seasons and 28 episodes in 1993, although a further four TV movies were made.
Harrison Ford even dropped by for an episode, while the sprawling ensemble of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles saw a number of future stars playing guest roles including Daniel Craig, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Liz Hurley, Anne Heche, Jennifer Ehle and Jeffrey Wright, while esteemed veterans Christopher Lee, Vanessa Redgrave, Ian McDiarmid, Max von Sydow and Keith David all showed up at various points, too.
Corey Carrier portrayed the title role for the first five episodes, but when fans think about the series, it’s generally Sean Patrick Flannery who comes to mind. The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles may have wrapped up almost 30 years ago, but the actor still gets asked about it all the time, and in a new interview, he admitted that he’d love to get involved with Indiana Jones 5.
“Man, I can probably count on one hand the amount of people that wouldn’t want to do something that George Lucas originated. Being in a Harrison Ford film, I mean, that falls into that same Dexter category. But having said that, I mean, to me, Harrison Ford is Indiana Jones. You know what I mean? They’ve got my 20 bucks at the theater every time they put one of those out. Absolutely.”
Of course, Flannery is 55 years old, so it’s not like he could play a youthful version of the intrepid archeologist anymore, but he can always be roped in for a brief cameo as a completely different character to nod towards longtime fans of the expanded lore. As far as we know, cameras are set to start rolling on Indiana Jones 5 in a matter of months, so some casting news shouldn’t be too far away unless it ends up getting delayed once again.