The First Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny Trailer Proves Harrison Ford's Still Got It

If it feels like you've been waiting forever for the fifth "Indiana Jones" film, it's because you have. The movie was stalled in development for years and repeatedly pushed even before the COVID-19 pandemic delayed it further. But all that waiting has finally paid off. Lucasfilm has just released the first trailer for the highly anticipated film, which finds Harrison Ford reprising what is technically his second most famous role: archaeologist and adventurer Dr. Henry "Indiana" Jones, Jr.

The new film, directed by James Mangold, is the first time we've seen Indy since 2008's much-maligned "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," which also saw the return of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" star Karen Allen as Marion Ravenwood and introduced Shia LaBeouf's Mutt Williams, the son Marion and Indy had together. LeBeouf will not appear in the upcoming movie.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Kretschmann, Toby Jones, Antonio Banderas, Boyd Holbrook, and Shaunette Renee Wilson all appear in the new movie. But the road to get here has been a long one filled with numerous obstacles. We're finally getting a payoff with the first trailer (which also debuted the new subtitle) for "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny."

George Lucas, who created the franchise, first began doing research for "Indiana Jones 5" back in 2008. Steven Spielberg, who had directed the four previous films, was also on board for another adventure (via Sci-Fi Wire). However, it took years to get the project off the ground. In fact, in 2012, producer Frank Marshall revealed the movie had not been written, and progress on it had stalled (via Vulture). Likely not helping matters was the fact that The Walt Disney Company acquired Lucasfilm in 2012, and the company decided to prioritize new "Star Wars" films over the "Indiana Jones" franchise. Luckily, things finally started coming together in 2015 when Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy confirmed a fifth movie was officially in the works (via Vanity Fair). 

"Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" was initially scheduled to be released in the summer of 2019, but problems continued to plague the production. Lucas dropped out of the project in 2016, and the script took ages to get right as multiple writers attempted to create a compelling story. Eventually, in February 2020, Spielberg also stepped down as the film's director (he remained on board as a producer), with Variety reporting that he believed it was time for a fresh perspective on the franchise. He was soon replaced by James Mangold, who confirmed via Twitter that he also wrote an entirely new screenplay with Jez and John-Henry Butterworth. Filming on the movie finally began in June 2021, and now that the trailer has arrived, we can officially celebrate the end of a very long, complicated journey that no one could have predicted.

"Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" hits theaters on June 30, 2023.