- The "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" director addressed Shia LaBeouf's absence from the film.
- James Mangold told Variety that there was no space to bring back Mutt, Indy's son.
"Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny," the fifth movie following Harrison Ford as everyone's favorite archaeologist adventurer, had its US premiere on Wednesday.
The film is set to be released in US theaters on June 30 and marks Ford's final farewell to the franchise. Taking place against the backdrop of the 1960s space race, the sequel sees Indy going head-to-head with a former-Nazi scientist, played by Mads Mikkelsen, with the help of his "Raiders of the Lost Ark" alumni John Rhys-Davies and Karen Allen.
However, the director James Mangold said there was one major character who wouldn't be making an appearance in the film.
Speaking to Variety on the red carpet, Mangold said that Shia LeBeouf, who played the titular hero's son in 2008's "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," was not brought back for the film.
"I think the point I had was that when I came on, I wanted to capture that wonderful energy between Indy and an intrepid female character," he said, referencing the fact that this time around, Indy is joined by Phoebe Waller-Bridge as his goddaughter, Helena Shaw.
"So that was my first goal, and there's only so many people you can edge into a picture," he added.
—Variety (@Variety) June 15, 2023
In "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," which was released 19 years after the third installment, LaBeouf was introduced to audiences as Mutt Williams, a motorcycle-riding greaser who tagged along with Indy when he became entangled in a Soviet plot to uncover the secrets behind mysterious artifacts.
Unbeknownst to the archaeologist adventurer at the beginning of the film, Mutt is later revealed to be the son he fathered with Marion Ravenwood, Allen's character and his love interest in the first installment, "Raiders of the Lost Ark."
Mangold told Entertainment Weekly that moviegoers would get an update on Mutt's whereabouts and "find out what happened to him" in the new film but said that LaBeouf's character would not appear in the movie.
"Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" is considered by many to be the worst film in the franchise and currently holds a 53% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. Adjusted for inflation, it has the lowest-grossing total of any movie in the franchise, according to Box Office Mojo.
Reflecting on the movie in 2010, LaBeouf told the Los Angeles Times that he "dropped the ball on the legacy that people loved and cherished" with his performance as Mutt.
"You can blame it on the writer and you can blame it on Steven. But the actor's job is to make it come alive and make it work, and I couldn't do it. So that's my fault. Simple," LaBeouf said.
"There was a reason it wasn't universally accepted," he continued, adding that Ford "wasn't happy with it either."