Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny Is About Indy, Not Spin-Offs
This article contains major spoilers for "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny," so proceed with caution!
Ever since the Marvel Cinematic Universe took the box office by storm, the major studios have been obsessed with crafting movies that are constantly planting seeds for sequels and spin-offs. What happened to the days when studios would focus on a single movie and then just figure out what to do with a sequel or a spin-off when the box office took off? Thankfully, when it comes to the final adventure for Indiana Jones this summer, you don't have to worry about Lucasfilm (and Disney) actively trying to set up any future installments with someone else picking up Indy's hat and whip.
For all of the glaring flaws that "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" has, perhaps one of the worst decisions was implying that Indy's greaser son Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf) could pick up the torch from Indiana Jones. Mutt learns the ropes from his old man — and even swings from some of them alongside monkeys in the jungle — on the adventure that hit theaters in 2008. In the movie's final scene at Indy and Marion's wedding, a certain fedora just so happens to arrive at Mutt's feel when the wind blows open the church doors and knocks the iconic hat onto the floor. That familiar Indiana Jones theme song by composer John Willams starts playing quietly as Mutt goes to put on the hat, but not before Harrison Ford grabs it from him with a cheeky smile.
At the time, Shia LaBeouf was riding a big wave of fame, and having the rising star take over the mantle of Indiana Jones felt like a viable prospect. At the very least, it seems like a fun tease. But a lot of fans weren't having it. Thankfully, "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" doesn't worry about trying any of that, even with Phoebe Waller-Bridge's character Helena Shaw entering the frame as a candidate.
It's the mileage
"Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" finds Henry Jones Jr. struggling with his place in the world. Not only has the rise of the space race and a triumphant walk on the moon in 1969 made his archaeological focus feel even more ancient and outdated, but he's officially retiring from education. However, Indy's greatest hurdle is the crumbling of his family. Early in the movie, after the flashback opening sequence with a digitally de-aged Harrison Ford, paperwork on the fridge in Indy's apartment reveals that he and Marion are getting separated. Furthermore, in one of the movie's most heartbreaking and powerful moments, Indy reveals that his son Mutt tragically died after enlisting in the US Army and being shipped off to Vietnam. The grief that followed broke Marion and tore their marriage apart, and Indy hasn't recovered either.
This is a story that's squarely focused on Indiana Jones, now a relic of another time, both professionally and personally. In fact, Indy feels so lost and without purpose that in the film's climactic moments, when he finds himself transported back many centuries to the time of Archimedes, the creator of the titular Dial of Destiny, he tries to stay behind after sustaining a gunshot wound, believing he has nothing left to live for back in the present day. Thankfully, his somewhat fatherly but dysfunctional relationship with Helena Shaw puts her in a position to convince him otherwise, even if it means literally knocking some sense into him with a punch to the face, bringing him back to 1969, and forcing him to reconcile with Marion (Karen Allen).
With such a strong, confident character as Helena Shaw accompanying Indiana Jones on his final big screen adventure, you'd think there'd be at least some kind of hint at Helena maybe giving us a different kind of adventurer to follow. Fortunately, that's not the case.
Helena Shaw isn't the new Indiana Jones
Debuting in "Dial of Destiny," Helena Shaw is a feisty, confident, crafty, and even thirsty young woman. Helena has a rich knowledge of history and archaeology, thanks to her father Basil (Toby Jones), one of Indy's colleagues who we meet during the aforementioned opening flashback sequence, which plays like an Indiana Jones movie we never got to see decades ago. But Helena's not driven by the purest intentions, and the reason she's trying to track down the Dial of Destiny herself has nothing to do with her father's legacy, despite him being obsessed with it and essentially driving him mad. Instead, Helena has a massive debt to pay off to some unsavory people, and she's merely trying to sell the artifact for a quick payday, putting her squarely in the sights of Nazi villain Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen) and his henchmen.
When it comes to history, Helena Shaw is the opposite of Indiana Jones, which essentially puts a full stop to the idea of her following in his footsteps. While she might be interested in fortune, she doesn't want the glory, and it seems like she could care less about giving anything to a museum unless they're paying her. Yes, there's plenty of potential there, especially since it would be lazy to give us someone who is just a female version of Indy. But Helena's character is never truly set up as a possibility to pick up a whip and put on a fedora. Though she's fully capable, daring, and bold, in "Dial of Destiny" Helena is truly a supporting character for Indiana Jones, albeit one who is thoroughly entertaining and well-written.
But could Helena Shaw return?
But just because "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" doesn't provide a direct set-up or hint that Helena Shaw could get her own movie doesn't mean it's not possible. After all, there's reportedly some kind of Indiana Jones TV series in development, and Shaw could easily appear in that, especially since there's an entire character history that could be filled out without Indiana Jones ever being involved.
When asked by Deadline about the possibility of her inheriting the Indiana Jones franchise, she responded, "First I ever heard of it!" In a more in-depth profile with Vanity Fair, she responded a bit more fully:
"There's no replacing Indiana Jones in any way. But I feel like the character herself — she did feel fresh on the page, and there is a sense of, is there room in the world for someone like this?"
The article also notes that Waller-Bridge talked about how Indy was always "a flawed, reluctant hero, a professor who's scared of snakes and gets sore after his punch-ups." Even though "Dial of Destiny" doesn't set up Shaw to take his place, Waller-Bridge noted, "I do think there's room for a slightly clumsier, bruised, limping female action star, maybe, in the future."
Raiding tombs
When it comes to Waller-Bridge's future, she's actually working on another family adventure series as one of the writers for a "Tomb Raider" TV series at Amazon Studios, based on the hit video game franchise of the same name. Honestly, since "Tomb Raider" basically gave audiences a female version of Indiana Jones, if Helena Shaw isn't going to be given her own franchise, having Waller-Bridge writing "Tomb Raider" feels like a nice substitute.
Even if a new "Indiana Jones" franchise isn't actively in the works, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy certainly sounds keen to work with Waller-Bridge in a cinematic capacity again. Kennedy told Vanity Fair:
"I would give anything to have Phoebe write a film. Whenever I'm talking to her, she's deep into commitments with current deals, but I would bring her on to write a movie tomorrow. There's just an underlying confidence in the way she makes decisions about herself and her career. She has this insatiable desire to do it all, but you never get the feeling that it's stressing her out. That's the amazing thing. She's just doing it with joy, and that's very, very contagious."
You can feel that joy coursing throughout Helena Shaw in "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny," and even though the movie doesn't set up any potential spin-offs for her character, we'll be happy to see Phoebe Waller-Bridge working on whatever movies or TV shows she deems worthy of her time. If that includes some kind of Indiana Jones adjacent project down the road, then we'll see what happens.