Steven Spielberg has confirmed that the fifth installment of the Indiana Jones franchise will start filming in April of next year. He made this statement in an acceptance speech while receiving a Legend of Our Lifetime award Sunday night at the Rakuten TV Empire Awards in London:
“It’s always worth the trip when I get to work with this deep bench of talent coming out of the UK. The actors, and the crew, the chippies, the sparks, the drivers — everybody who has helped me make my movies here, and will continue helping me make my movies here when I come back in April 2019 to make the fifth Indiana Jones movie right here.”
The film was originally scheduled for a July 19, 2019 release, but that has apparently been pushed back. Harrison Ford will be returning, but there has been no other casting news, outside of the fact that Shia LaBeouf will not be returning. Karen Allen and John Rhys-Davies have both mentioned interest in returning to what will likely be the last Indy outing to star Harrison Ford.
As we previously reported, Indy co-creator George Lucas will not be returning to the franchise. Had Lucas been a bit more supportive of the Star Wars franchise after selling Lucasfilm to Disney, it’s feasible that they would have asked him back to write and/or produce Indy 5, but that ship has apparently sailed.