In the history of cinema, it's hard to think of a character and actor more closely intertwined than Indiana Jones and Harrison Ford.
While the star has had numerous iconic parts throughout his illustrious career – from Han Solo to Rick Deckard – it's his role as the intrepid archeologist that stands as the finest of all, and the prospect of ever recasting the character will instantly be regarded as sacrilege to many.
But two years since Ford got to crack his whip one last time for his Indy swan song in 2023's The Dial of Destiny, rumours have begun to swirl that a reboot is on the cards.
According to a recent report in The Disinsider, Lucasfilm is planning to revive the adventure series at some point in the future – although it also claims it plans to let it rest for at least a short while first.
The report goes on to state that an announcement could be made as early as next year’s D23 Expo, although it's worth noting that this is all far from confirmed at this stage.
In fact, Hollywood insider Jeff Sneider appeared to debunk the earlier report, writing (via LRM) that while "a reboot is inevitable", it is still "many, many years away" and "anyone holding their breath for an announcement at D23 next year may want to exhale, as it isn’t happening".
Still, word of a potential reboot – however far away it might be – has got people talking, and naturally the first question on everyone's lips is who could possibly take over the central role?
For that matter, would the idea be for a new actor to play the same character – much in the same way that James Bond, Sherlock Holmes and numerous other pop culture icons have been played by multiple actors over the years – or would the focus shift to a brand new character in a similar mould?
We've taken a look at some possible options below.
Glen Powell
Every now and again a movie star comes along who seems to suddenly be everywhere – and in recent years, Glen Powell has well and truly fulfilled that role.
Although he's been appearing in films since his mid-teens – and wracked up a few notable credits along the way – it wasn't until the release of Top Gun: Maverick in the summer of 2022 that he really became a major star, and since then he's been going from strength to strength.
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In the last couple of years, he's had lead roles in Hit Man, Anyone but You and Twisters, while he's also set to star in Edgar Wright's The Running Man remake and JJ Abrams's mysterious upcoming fantasy film. So he's certainly not short on work.
While he's not a direct analogue for Ford, Powell does have the sort of rogue-ish charm required to pull off Indy, and he's certainly proved his credentials when it comes to leading man charisma.
Still, the star has been on record about turning down the chance to join a couple of major franchises already – including Jurassic World Rebirth and a Jason Bourne reboot – so it's very possible he'd take the same approach if offered a role here.
Pedro Pascal
Speaking of actors who are everywhere all of a sudden, it seems that hardly a month goes by without a big new Pedro Pascal release at the moment.
While he's been a big name since his memorable turn as Oberyn Martell in Game of Thrones over a decade ago, it's only more recently that he's become quite so ubiquitous – and this summer alone he's got major movie roles in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, The Materialists, and Ari Aster's Eddington.
He's also clearly not someone averse to joining major franchises – his title tole in The Mandalorian is another one that's obviously worth mentioning – and would almost certainly be a popular choice given his consistently growing fan base.
Perhaps mostly due to the fact he's everywhere at the moment, the rumour mill has thrown his name about a few times in recent weeks – although we should flag that this hasn't amounted to anything beyond social media speculation at this point in time.
Still, Pascal has made his appreciation for the character clear in the past – even mentioning in interviews that he broke his arm three times as a child while pretending to be Indy – so we imagine he'd have a hard time turning down the role if he ever did get offered it.
Chris Pratt
In the last decade or so, few actors have proven themselves to be bigger box office draws than Chris Pratt – thanks mainly to his roles as Star-Lord in the MCU and Owen Grady in the Jurassic World films.
But with both those roles now done, it's very probable that he's looking for his next major character, and if that is the case it couldn't get much bigger than Indiana Jones.
Interestingly, Pratt's name has been mentioned in regards to a reboot a few times in the past, with rumours at various points – most notably in 2021 – suggesting he could be the man to don the hat and whip following Ford's retirement from the role.
Pratt was asked about the possibility when those rumours were at their height, though, and he didn't exactly seem like he was getting ready to sign on. "All I know is I once saw a quote from Harrison Ford and I don’t even know if it was really him but it was enough to scare me, that was like, ‘When I die, Indiana Jones dies.’" he told Variety in 2022.
"And I’m like, am I gonna get haunted by the ghost of Harrison Ford one day when he dies if I play [Jones]…?"
Bradley Cooper
Cooper is another big name who has been linked with the role a fair few times in the past – and another who certainly has the movie star presence and rugged look to pull it off better than most.
Rumours of him possibly taking over the role go back as far as 2014, although long-time Indiana Jones producer Frank Marshall pretty much definitively shut down that speculation at the time, writing on Twitter that they were "ridiculous rumours" that he would not be commenting on.
"I will stop commenting on our projects until I have real news," he added. "I can only confirm that Katy Perry will NOT be the new Indiana Jones."
With more than 10 years having passed since, it does seem that this rumour is one we can consign to the past – especially now that Cooper spends much of his time working on his own writing and directing projects.
Unless he's up for signing on as a writer/director/star...?
Alden Ehrenreich
Stepping into a role made iconic by Harrison Ford isn't a task that many people have attempted – but one man who has had a stab at it in the past in Alden Ehrenreich.
The actor famously played Han Solo in origin story Solo: A Star Wars Story back in 2018, although the film struggled to connect with audiences and critics and consequently failed to give Ehrenreich's promising career the boost fans might have expected from such a high-profile role.
Still, for all the faults with the film, it's hard to place the blame at the feet of Ehrenreich's performance – and indeed even Ford himself has praised his turn, telling Entertainment Weekly at the time of release that he "couldn't be happier" with the performance. That's a seal of approval if ever we saw one.
Ehrenreich's career – rather unfairly – took something of a hit in the immediate aftermath of Solo, and he didn't appear in another film for five years (although he did have a lead role in Peacock's TV adaptation of Brave New World).
His big-screen career has since bounced back, with roles in Cocaine Bear and Oppenheimer in 2023, and he's got a major part in Zach Cregger's buzzy upcoming horror Weapons later this summer. But we suspect he'd probably be keen to avoid a repeat of the Solo fiasco, and so perhaps he's not one that would be up for the role – even if he would be a decent fit.
Henry Golding
Over the years, Golding's name has been mentioned a few times in relation to taking on another iconic film character – James Bond.
But perhaps he might be a decent fit for Indy instead? Since his breakthrough film role in Crazy Rich Asians back in 2018, he's long been tipped for a potential move into super-stardom, but despite some memorable roles in the likes of A Simple Favor and The Gentlemen, his career hasn't quite reached the next level.
In 2021, he did have a lead action role in the GI Joe spin-off Snake Eyes, but the film ended up as something of a dud and as such failed to take his career up another notch. Maybe he deserves another chance to prove his leading man credentials, and what better avenue could there be for that than taking on one of the most iconic characters of all?
Still, if Golding's recent comments about James Bond are anything to go by, we wonder if he'd even want such a high-profile role. Asked about the 007 rumours in a recent interview by People, he called the role "every actor’s kind of nightmare" and pointed towards "the restraints and the expectation".
Given Indy is a character who – as yet – has never been recast, the expectation would arguably be even higher in this instance. So maybe it's not something Golding would be especially up for!
John Krasinski
Whenever a young-ish British actor takes on a role that requires him to wear a suit and is in some way action or espionage-related, they are immediately linked to the role of James Bond – and if we apply the same logic to rugged American stars playing intrepid adventurers, then Krasinski has to be in the running for Indy.
That's because Guy Ritchie's recent film The Fountain of Youth – in which Krasinski had a lead role alongside Natalie Portman – was about as close as it's possible to get to an Indiana Jones homage, a globe-trotting adventure concerned with a for an iconic artefact with legendary powers.
Of course, it wouldn't be correct to say that this was Krasinski auditioning for the role of Indy, but it certainly proved that he's interested in this kind of role.
Speaking at the time of the film's release, the star noted the similarities, telling CBR: "[The family aspect] was really the thing that drew me in, which Indy didn’t have. So there! We’re ahead of Indiana Jones already! Please don’t tell Harrison Ford that!"
Still, the muted response to both the film and Krasinki's performance suggests that studios probably won't be rushing to enlist him for the role anytime soon.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge
This suggestion would obviously fall into the spin-off category – with the focus shifting to Waller-Bridge's character Helena Shaw, who was introduced in The Dial of Destiny.
In the film, Helena was revealed to be Indy's goddaughter – the child of his old pal Basil Shaw – and it's safe to say she had a fair few traits in common with her godfather, not least his adventurous spirit and tenacity. However, there are also some clear differences between the two characters, with Helena seen to have a somewhat more flexible approach to ethics.
Around the time of Dial of Destiny's release, there were some rumours that the stage was being set for Waller-Bridge to take over as the franchise's lead in any future films, although director James Mangold told Variety at the time that he had no appetite for such a movie.
On the other hand, producer Kathleen Kennedy commented that a sequel centred on Helena was "entirely possible", while Waller-Bridge told Variety that: "I do think there’s room for a slightly clumsier, bruised, limping female action star, maybe, in the future."
So there's every chance that if an Indy reboot does get the go-ahead in the future, this is the avenue they choose to go down.
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