Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny has some course-correcting to do for those who weren’t too enamoured with 2008’s Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and that includes addressing the fate of Shia LaBeouf’s Mutt, who was introduced as Indy’s son and was just one of the many divisive aspects of Spielberg’s fourth whip-cracking adventure.
Hoping to give Harrison Ford’s iconic adventurer the send-off he deserves, new director James Mangold has been speaking with Entertainment Weekly about how he wished to tackle Indiana Jones much in the same way he did with Hugh Jackman’s final outing as Wolverine in Logan, approaching the character as “a hero at sunset”, and while he obviously didn’t want to reveal anything about the mystery at the heart of Dial of Destiny, he did say that the film will address Shia LaBeouf’s Mutt.
Last seen picking up the famous fedora at the end of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, LaBeouf’s Mutt was seen as a passing-the-baton character, but he wasn’t universally accepted, which is something that the actor himself has agreed with, saying in a 2010 LA Times interview that “I feel like I dropped the ball on the legacy that people loved and cherished”. Well, at least that legacy will be addressed because Mangold told EW that while LaBeouf and his character will not be in the film, he promises that fans will “find out what happened” to him.
Meanwhile, Mangold has also taken to social media to dismiss online speculation that Dial of Destiny is undergoing/about to undergo reshoots to create a new ending.
So I took a b-day break from trolls. But it seems I gotta once again say.. We’re not shooting & never shot any new scenes or "alt endings". Our film is 99% finished, getting rated by MPAA & VFX being completed. Happy Holidays!
— Mangold (@mang0ld) December 19, 2022
Let us know what you think of LaBeouf’s Mutt and your overall feelings regarding Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny by heading to our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
SEE ALSO: Watch the trailer for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny here
Starring along with Harrison Ford are Phoebe Waller-Bridge (“Fleabag”), Antonio Banderas (“Pain and Glory”), John Rhys-Davies (“Raiders of the Lost Ark”), Shaunette Renee Wilson (“Black Panther”), Thomas Kretschmann (“Das Boot”), Toby Jones (“Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom”), Boyd Holbrook (“Logan”), Oliver Richters (“Black Widow”), Ethann Isidore (“Mortel”) and Mads Mikkelsen (“Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore”).
Directed by James Mangold, the film is produced by Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, and Simon Emanuel, with Steven Spielberg and George Lucas serving as executive producers. John Williams, who has scored each Indy adventure since the original “Raiders of the Lost Ark” in 1981, is once again composing the score.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny arrives in theaters on June 30th, 2023.
