'Indiana Jones 5' Update: Kathleen Kennedy Confirms It Won't Be A Reboot

When the still-untitled Indiana Jones 5 was officially announced, its targeted release date was July 19, 2019. Since then, Disney has pushed back its release date several times, and though we haven't gotten an update in several months, it sounds like director Steven Spielberg and star Harrison Ford are still on board and the project is slowly inching toward production.

Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy offered a quick Indiana Jones 5 update from the BAFTAs red carpet, which you can read below.

"We're working away, getting the script where we want it to be and then we'll be ready to go," Kennedy told an interviewer from the BBC. "Harrison Ford will be involved, yeah. It's not a reboot; it's a continuation. He can't wait. He absolutely is [up for it.]"

Considering all the delays, I suppose there may have been a chance that Lucasfilm had altered its approach to another Indiana Jones movie. After all, Harrison Ford isn't getting any younger. If the film actually opens on its current release date of July 9, 2021, Ford will be just four days shy of celebrating his 79th birthday when audiences begin pouring in to see the movie. But Kennedy's comment confirms that Lucasfilm is not interested in rebooting the franchise, and instead are committed to giving Ford one last ride as the famed archeologist/adventurer – and it sounds like the actor is eager to put the fedora on again. (Sorry, Chris Pratt.)

Back in 2016, Disney CEO Bob Iger was asked whether Indiana Jones might get its own full-fledged cinematic universe, akin to Lucasfilm's other top-shelf franchise. "Not like Star Wars, no," he said. "But we hope...right now, we're focused on a reboot, or a continuum and then a reboot of some sort...we'll bring [Harrison Ford] back, then we have to figure out what comes next. That's what I mean."

The fifth film has gone through the hands of several writers, including David Koepp, Jon Kasdan, and Dan Fogelman – and last we heard, it was back in Koepp's hands. "I'm working on it again," Koepp said in September. "We're still trying. And I think we've got a good idea this time. We'll see."

Some fans still feel burned by 2008's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and Spielberg is definitely aware that he didn't hit all the right notes for everyone that time around. "I think [Indiana Jones 5] is straight down the pike for the fans," Spielberg said of the upcoming sequel a few years ago. "The one thing I will tell you is I'm not killing off Harrison [Ford] at the end of it."