Steven Spielberg Is Open To A Female 'Indiana Jones' Movie, So It Just Might Happen

While Star Wars has been churning out a movie a year like clockwork since 2015, that other major genre film from the 1980s, Indiana Jones has been huffing and puffing to keep up. The franchise has been planning on a fifth installment to come out in 2020, but by then Harrison Ford will be pushing 80, and more than ready to pass on the torch. So who would take over the role? It turns out Speilberg might be looking to focus on a female Indiana Jones movie.

It's been a decade since Indiana Jones 4, entitled Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull hit theaters to less than stellar reviews. At the time, without knowing it, they were ahead of the curve. The "Harrison Ford Passes His Greatest Film Franchises To The Next Generation" didn't really kick in until the middle of the next decade, starting with Star Wars: The Force Awakens and following up with Blade Runner: 2049.

Indiana Jones And The Film That Won't Come Until 2020 may be a little late to the party, but from the sounds of things, Spielberg is planning on having Ford play the same passing the torch role when it does. (Just as long as Ford keeps himself healthy and out of airplanes, that is.)

The question is, who will he be passing the torch too? Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull co-star Shia LaBeouf is all but out of Hollywood, and the field is wide open.

Speaking to the UK's The Sun during his Ready Player One publicity tour, Spielberg admitted he's been thinking it's time Indiana "took a different form."

But then he said something a touch confusing, which was probably supposed to be a joke:

We’d have to change the name from Jones to Joan. And there would be nothing wrong with that.

Someone should tell Spielberg that's not how last names work?

As to who could play a female Indiana (and considering the 2010s trend towards female names that end with A, Indiana as a woman would work wonderfully), the list is simply too long to contemplate. Tessa Thompson, Daisy Ridley, and Alicia Vikander all immediately come to mind, followed by Gina Rodriguez, Zhang Ziyi, and Carrie Coon.

With the film, which was originally slated for July of 2019, but then pushed back to July 2020, still in the casting phase anything can happen. But Ford, who will be part of the film, has said that 2020 date is "set in stone."

He's also looking forward to revisiting Indy in his old age.

I'm looking forward to working with Steven [Spielberg] again and to revisiting the character later in life. It's interesting to see it in a different light. It will be fun and a good thing to do.

Spielberg followed his remarks up talking about how about how he was raised and influenced by strong women, including his mother, and his wife of nearly 30 years, Kate Capshaw.

My mom was strong. She had a voice, she had a very strong opinion. I have been very lucky to be influenced by women, several of whom I have just loved madly — my mom and my wife.

But even though fans are rabid to find out who the played torch passing will eventually go to, for Spielberg, this will be just as much about honoring Harrison Ford, who has been with the franchise since 1981.

This will be Harrison Ford’s last Indiana Jones movie, I am pretty sure, but it will certainly continue after that.

The still-untitled Indiana Jones 5 is due in theaters on July 10, 2020.