Indiana Jones 5 Set Photos Tease Potential Last Crusade Script Connection

While Indiana Jones 5 has yet to officially begin production, Harrison Ford has arrived in the U.K. to film the next installment in the much-loved action adventure series. As is common with blockbusters of this size, pre-production has been underway for months, with crews working on the construction of some of the sets up that will be used in the film.

Because of this, we have our first set photos from the Indiana Jones 5 production and, while they don’t tell us much about what we can expect from the upcoming film, they a) do make us very excited that this thing is finally happening and b) still get us theorizing about the details of Indy’s next adventure.

Set photos shared by Switzerland_Forever on Reddit show the beginning of what appears to be a castle. This tracks with rumors that Indiana Jones 5 will soon be filming at Bamburgh Castle, a 1400-year-old fortress located along the Northumberland coast. Local newspaper the Northumberland Gazette recently reported that filming would be taking place at the location from June 7-11, and most have speculated this will be the Indiana Jones sequel.

The photos have also led some Indy fans to speculate that Steven Spielberg, who will be a “hands-on producer” for the film helmed by Logan‘s James Mangold, is recycling the Scottish ghost opening from the original script for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, written by Chris Columbus. The initial script draft for the third film in the franchise was called Indiana Jones and the Monkey King, and it opened with our titular hero facing off against a Scottish ghost named Baron Seamus Seagrove III while on vacation in Scotland.

Personally, I would love to see this sequence finally come to life. Generally, I am for Indiana Jones films leaning away from trying to depict cultures the creators know nothing about, and Scottish mythology seems like a history Hollywood filmmakers might actually be able to handle. Plus, ghosts are fun.

The road to Indiana Jones 5 has been a relatively bumpy one. Development on the follow-up to 2008’s contentious Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull began in 2016 with a tentative release date in 2019. The changing of both writers and directors, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic, has pushed that back to a planned July 2022 release. In the meantime, the franchise film has rounded up a great supporting cast for Ford, including Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, and Boyd Holbrook.

In addition to directing, Mangold has also worked on the script. Late last year, Den of Geek talked to producer Frank Marshall about the status of Indiana Jones 5. He said: “What I’m excited about with Jim [Mangold] is a great story. I think you see that in his movies like Ford Vs Ferrari. It’s all about characters and telling a good story. So I’m excited to see what he comes up with.”