Before the abysmal failure that was Kathleen Kennedy’s “The Dial of Destiny,” Lucasfilm once explored expanding the world of Indiana Jones onto Disney+. This plan, similar to their approach with Star Wars, was very likely scrapped with the release of “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.”
The fifth and final movie in the series, starring Harrison Ford, was meant to be his last appearance as Indiana Jones. Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy had suggested that only Ford would play the character, which seemed to limit options for growing the franchise.
However, it now appears Lucasfilm had a few ideas to expand the series by focusing on supporting characters. Actor and podcast host Griffin Newman revealed on a recent episode of “Blank Check with Griffin & David” that he once auditioned for an animated series in the style of Indiana Jones. Newman, known for roles in “The Tick” and voice work in various animated shows, said the project was presented as an “Untitled Star Wars Project.” He explained, “When I read the sides I was like ‘this is clearly a young Indiana Jones show’ and it was going be animated”.
Indiana Jones model sheets by Patrick SchoenmakerThis is definitely not the abandoned project that James Mangold referred to prior to the release of “Indy V.”
The proposed show was not directly about Indiana Jones, but more in the spirit of the young Indy scenes from “The Last Crusade.” Newman believes he may have been reading for a young version of Sallah or Marcus Brody, characters from the original films.
“…I think Dial of Destiny was kinda getting complicated; they were like, ‘Let’s just focus on this and not do the side show.’ But there was going to be a Disney+ animated sort of like River Phoenix-esque rather than Young Indiana Jones-esque.”
The thing that was very funny about the Indiana Jones cartoon thing was usually you’ll get these breakdowns and it’ll be like, Untitled Lucasfilm Project and you read it and you’re like ‘This is Star Wars but they’re trying to hide that it’s Star Wars’. This they sent out as Untitled Star Wars Cartoon Show and I was like ‘Oh cool, I’m auditioning for a Star Wars cartoon show.’ And then I read the sides and they gave all the characters alien names but they talked about being at a university and studying adventurers and wanting to collect relics. And I was like ‘you’re using Star Wars as a cover for it being Indiana Jones.’…But this show has just not happened.”
This animated series concept is the closest to official news about any Indiana Jones spin-offs. In 2022, there were reports of Lucasfilm meeting with writers about a potential Indiana Jones Disney+ series, but nothing was confirmed.The project might have been planned before Disney+ launched but possibly scrapped before Disney’s December 2020 Investor Day. If it had still been in development, it likely would have been announced, as Disney’s CEO reportedly pushed for project announcements – even if they weren’t ready.
The full interview is here:
Netherlands animator Patrick Schoenmaker did a beautiful job with his own animated tribute over a decade ago. It’s surprising that Disney never capitalized on this format.
“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” faced several release date changes before finally hitting theaters on June 30, 2023. These delays may have made it difficult to time an animated tie-in project. Even Marvel Comics, owned by Disney, couldn’t get an Indiana Jones comic published, and even dropped the ball on reprinting their critically acclaimed comic adaptations of the films, and the subsequent monthly series that followed.
The movie’s poor box office performance, losing over $200 million dollars,, all but assures that makes Lucasfilm won’t revisit the franchise anytime soon. However, given the rich cast of supporting characters in the Indiana Jones universe, the idea of an animated series exploring their backstories, or even a young Indy, remains an intriguing possibility for the future. Will Disney ever do anything right with this property?
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English (US) · 