James Mangold: Indiana Jones 5 Will Explore a World Changing Around Indy

Harrison Ford’s Indiana Jones has been through tons of adventures, and as he gets ready for another one in the upcoming Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, director James Mangold reveals on just what makes this iteration of the character so different.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Mangold noted that for the upcoming film, he wanted to showcase that not only was Indiana Jones different because of his age, but he wanted to show just how the world has changed around him.

“The first three Indiana Jones movies took place in roughly the same period,” Mangold said. “They all easily fit with the serialized, theatrical, almost screwball-action style of the movies that were being released in the period they’re set in. The challenge for [director Steven Spielberg] on [Crystal Skull], and for me on this one, is: How do you move forward into new decades where the world is no longer seen in such clear demarcations of black and white and good and evil? Where the whole concept of raiding tombs and fighting over relics is looked at in a different way? It’s not about changing the story but allowing the character to experience how the world has changed around him.”

According to Mangold, most of the film takes place in 1969, a stark difference to the era of the late 1930s that the original trilogy of films took place in. According to the director, that gives the film a chance to explore more of how soldiers of fortune like Indiana Jones are not entirely looked at as heroes anymore.

“And our perception of politics is more gray,” said Mangold. “Who’s a villain? Who are we working with? Who are we fighting against? Proxy wars, all of that. It’s not as simple as the era around World War II. What happens to a hero built for a black-and-white world, when he finds himself in one that is gray? It’s a problem that produces humor, produces contradictions, produces adjustments that this character’s going have to make.”

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny will be produced by Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, and Simon Emanuel, with John Williams returning to score the film. It is set to be released in theaters on June 30, 2023.