For a minute there it looked like the little-loved Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was going to be the final outing for esteemed archaeologist Dr Henry Jones Jr. But we were wrong! Now, 15 years after the last film and with star Harrison Ford a sprightly 80, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny swings into cinemas on June 30.
Time has marched on in the franchise, too. Indy’s latest adventure takes place in 1969, at the height of the Space Race, with Indy teaming up with his goddaughter, Helena Shaw (Fleabag creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge) to foil some nefarious scheme by Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen), a “former” Nazi (read up on Operation Paperclip for the inside scoop on that) now working for NASA, who plans to bend the Apollo Space Program to suit his own evil purposes.
Notably, this will be the first big screen Indy outing not directed by Steven Spielberg, with the reins being handed to Logan director James Mangold, who has form for movies about ageing heroes on one last adventure. Similarly, co-creator George Lucas has minimal involvement, although both he and the ‘Berg have Executive Producer credits.
As for the plot and what the titular Dial of Destiny may be? Your guess is as good as ours. Still, we side-eye the rumours going around saying it involves time travel—the last time we got sci-fi elements in an Indy film it almost killed the franchise, and it’s hard to imagine the studio making the same mistake twice.
But here’s the good news—Sallah’s back, once again played by the inimitable Jonathan Rhys-Davies, while the supporting cast includes Antonio Banderas, Toby Jones, Thomas Kretschmann, and Boyd Holbrook, the latter pair on henchman duties for Mads’ main baddie. Will our octogenarian adventurer prevail against such avatars of Aryan evil? Look, probably—but we’ll be there opening night just to make sure.
