Steven Spielberg: It May Be Time For A Female ‘Indiana Jones’

Director Steven Spielberg says action star Indiana Jones, indelibly branded by Harrison Ford in the film franchise, may be ripe for a change.

In an interview with British media outlet The Sun, Spielberg said it was time the explorer took “a different form,” nodding in affirmation when asked if that meant a woman.

“We’d have to change the name from Jones to Joan,” Spielberg said. “And there would be nothing wrong with that.” He acknowledged that some fans might be angry at the massive change in the iconic film star’s gender.

Spielberg, making the media round to tout his latest, Ready Player One, has long been a strong supporter of women and is a supporter of the Time’s Up movement for gender equality. He also had one lucky connection with women and Indiana Jones: Spielberg’s longtime wife, Kate Capshaw, met the director in 1984 when she starred in his second Indiana Jones film. They wed in 1991.

“I have been very lucky to be influenced by women, several of whom I have just loved madly — my mom and my wife,” he told the Sun.

Filming for the fifth movie in the Indiana Jones franchise is reportedly set for April 2019, but any changes haven’t been revealed yet. Spielberg noted, “This will be Harrison Ford’s last Indiana Jones movie, I am pretty sure, but it will certainly continue after that.”