2008's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull jumped the shark in a big way. While the franchise had embraced somewhat fantastical elements in the past, introducing aliens was a step too far for many fans and not what they were looking for from the iconic adventurer during his long overdue return.
While that movie wrapped up with Indy heading off into the sunset, we know one more story featuring the character is on the way with next year's Indiana Jones 5 from filmmaker James Mangold.
We're guessing (and hoping) his movie won't feature any little green men, especially as Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is considered a real low point for the franchise after the beloved Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom, and The Last Crusade. Now, writer David Koepp has admitted that he wasn't a fan of the idea, either, and even tried to talk Steven Spielberg and George Lucas out of it.
"I was never happy with the idea [of including alien-like creatures in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull]," he tells the Script Apart podcast (via Screen Rant). "When I came on, I tried to convince [director Steven Spielberg and franchise co-creator George Lucas] to change it - I had this other idea. They didn't want to change it."
"I'm not saying mine would've been better. But I think that a lot of the pushback that movie got, in a larger sense aside from little things people might not have liked - that were too silly or whatever - the larger one was that [fans said] 'We don't feel like aliens should've been in an Indiana Jones movie.' Fair enough, in retrospect, you're probably right [Laughs]."
Koepp declined to reveal his alternate idea for the movie, saying he'd rather it remain "this misty, ethereal thing that's probably brilliant" in the imagination of fans. Given how much else was wrong with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, we're not sure one different creative choice would have saved the blockbuster, but it's hard not to be intrigued by what might have been.
It probably would have been better than those terrible CG aliens, anyway !
Indiana Jones 5 is set to be released in theaters on June 30, 2023.