'Star Wars: Origins' Trailer: This Fan Film Imagines 'Star Wars' And Indiana Jones Existing In The Same Universe

What would happen if archeologists in a serial-inspired adventure stumbled across alien artifacts? No, I'm not asking you to recount the plot of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but instead presenting the premise of Star Wars: Origins, an upcoming fan film shot in the Sahara desert which blends the worlds of two of Lucasfilm's biggest intellectual properties: Star Wars and Indiana Jones. Check out the trailer below, and let the countdown begin for Disney actually implementing their own version of this concept.

Star Wars Origins Trailer

The full short debuts on December 12, 2019, just a few days before Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker blasts into theaters. This project was written and directed by Phil Hawkins, a former contestant on the 2007 filmmaking reality competition series On The Lot (executive produced by Steven Spielberg) who's gone on to direct small films like Being Sold and Four Warriors. It stars Marie Everett (What Happened to Monday), Jamie Costa (Han Solo: A Smuggler's Trade), Hadrian Howard (The Mummy, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation), and Philip Walker.

"I didn't want to make your usual fan film with lightsaber fights and Stormtroopers," Hawkins said in a behind-the-scenes video. "These characters and story need to exist without the baggage of Star Wars from the [jump]. I wanted to keep the audience guessing in a fun way, because there are going to be a bunch of easter eggs throughout the film that allude to the origins of Star Wars." He also name-checked Lawrence of Arabia as an inspiration and reference point in this movie, additionally saying that he hopes it's a celebration of the types of 1980s action-adventure movies that he grew up watching and that inspired him to become a filmmaker in the first place.

I honestly don't think we're too far away from Disney taking this idea (or something very similar to it) and making their own mega-budgeted version. The studio is quickly running out of beloved animated movies to remake in live-action, and compared with the huge box office juggernauts of this year, the company's slate for next year looks pretty dire. Plus, they just lost a pair of writer/producers of a planned new trilogy last night, so if the company is looking to fast-track their own spin on this idea, now might be a good time. In any case, I imagine we're also not far from Patton Oswalt's incredible Parks and Recreation filibuster from six years ago actually coming true: