Fans Confused after News of Harrison Ford, 78, Returning for 5th & Final 'Indiana Jones' Film

The 5th and final "Indiana Jones" film was announced by Lucasfilms on December 11, by the @Starwars Twitter account, announcing too that Harrison Ford will be taking up his iconic role.

An announcement by Lucasfilms this week left some fans excited and others confused that Harrison Ford would be reprising his role as Indiana Jones in the 5th and final installment of the franchise.

The film was originally announced to be released in 2016 but after major delays, involving script sign-offs, the 5th installment of the Indy franchise is to be released July 2022, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy confirmed.

The announcement to Twitter that pre-production had started and that it would be directed by James Mangold, the director of Oscar-nominated "Ford v Ferrari" was met with a lot of confusion from fans of the adventure franchise.

Many fans questioned the casting of Harrison and suggested that the role be adapted so that the new generation of actors took to take over the beloved role. One user wrote,

"Let Harrison rest please. And don't even think about replacing him with someone else. He is Indy. The series should have ended with The Last Crusade."

One question brought up by Nate Jones of Vulture, was when exactly will the film be set? In his article, he discusses different scenarios and uses very impressive math skills to deduced that the film should be set in the early 80s.

It is a reasonable question as the first film was in 1936, and was filmed 40 years ago. Fans (and Jones) will only know the true answer when scriptwriters decide and the film is released for viewing in 2022.

In 2016 Ford himself gave his opinion on playing the character, on Jimmy Kimmel live. He had opened up about his excitement about possibly playing the legendary character again.

He went on to say that his experiences and involvement in the films had been great fun and he was looking forward to playing the character that had brought so much joy to fans and himself, he said too,

"The opportunity to work with Steven [Spielberg] again and the chance to revisit this character which has brought pleasure to so many people."

Multiple generations truly love the film series, and some fans were excited about Ford's return as Indiana Jones. One tweet user expressed their appreciation for Ford by sharing a photo of a cat with hearts around it.

Other Twitter users agreed that hopefully, the 5th installment will be better than the 4th film, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of The Crystal Skull" with one user posting that it was an "absolutely horrendous movie."

Harrison Ford who is now 78 years old, has played the character of Indiana Jones since the first release in 1981, with the film "Raiders of the Lost Ark."

George Lucas is the creator of the iconic character as well as other classics such as the Star Wars franchise. He is the founder of Lucasfilm, the production company which makes the Indiana Jones films.