Is An Expanded Indiana Jones Movie Universe Coming Next?
“It’s not the years, honey. It’s the mileage.”
Not everything that was teased at the Star Wars Celebration in London at the weekend was actually directly about the Galaxy Far, Far Away. Even during panels that were devoted to it.
Industrial Light & Magic supremo Lynwen Brennan turned up to head a panel called LucasFilm: The Art Of Storytelling, which was mostly a revisit of older material and generic stuff (according to the word on the street from our own Alex Leadbeater). But in there was an extremely intriguing teaser, (as spotted by Collider) about the future of OTHER LucasFilm productions.
Obviously the company was built on a twin foundation of Star Wars and Indiana Jones, and it looks like Disney have plans for their whip-wielding archeological superhero. As Brennan was talking about how storylines will shape the future of Stat Wars movies, she also dropped this little gem:
“Kiri [Hart] and her group have mapped out a story and timeline across multiple platforms many years in advance, many exhausting years in advance. We have a great honour to have responsibility for, so we want to be really careful with that. Not only for Star Wars but with Indiana Jones, which we’re all really excited about as well”.
Given the context, that clearly implies Disney are working on an expanded Indy universe, and not just the long-expected Indy 5. We knew there were plans in place beyond that 2019 release date, BUT, the idea of an expanded universe and not simply linear sequels is a different thing altogether.
That implies we could see things like Young Indy prequels, or anthology movies starring other characters (maybe a Short Round grown up flick?). And of course, it sort of explains how the company gets around the fact that their crown jewel of Harrison Ford won't be around forever.
For now this remains conjecture, but it's an interesting idea all the same...