Now that Kathleen Kennedy has finally stepped down from Lucasfilm, the mess she leaves behind is becoming clearer by the day. According to The Wrap, the studio had multiple Indiana Jones projects in development when she was still in charge, including two separate TV series that were apparently scrapped before seeing the light of day.
We reported almost a year ago that there was an animated show developed by Star Wars: Visions director Rodrigo Blaas. Inside Lucasfilm, it was nicknamed “Reggie,” after Jock Lindsay’s pet snake in the opening scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark. The story reportedly followed Indiana Jones on adventures set between the original trilogy films, the kind of classic storytelling fans used to love before the franchise was handed to the current regime.
Indiana Jones model sheets by Patrick SchoenmakerAround the same time, in 2022, there was also a live-action series centered on Abner Ravenwood, father of Marion Ravenwood and mentor to Indy. For fans, the name comes up only once in Raiders of the Lost Ark, but Lucasfilm was apparently ready to expand his backstory. Both of these series seem to have been buried long before Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny limped into theaters in 2023 and decimated the once successful franchise.
This wasn’t the first time Lucasfilm toyed with an Indiana Jones cartoon that never materialized. Actor Griffin Newman mentioned on his podcast, Blank Check with Griffin and David, that he once auditioned for what he guessed was an Indiana Jones animated series. “There was going to be a Disney+ animated sort of like River Phoenix-esque rather than Young Indiana Jones-esque,” he said. Newman recalled that he was told it was an “Untitled Star Wars Project,” but the dialogue made it obvious it was really Indiana Jones. “They gave all the characters alien names,” he added, “but they talked about being at a university and studying adventurers and wanting to collect relics. And I was like, you’re using Star Wars as a cover for it being Indiana Jones.”
Newman said the show didn’t move forward and guessed the problem had to do with Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. “I think Dial of Destiny was kinda getting complicated; they were like, ‘Let’s just focus on this and not do the side show.’”
Both the Blaas project and the Abner Ravenwood series were likely caught in the chaos of Disney’s leadership shuffle. Bob Chapek, then the Disney CEO, was obsessed with cranking out streaming content. When Bob Iger returned in late 2022 and saw the direction things were going, projects like these were put on hold, especially after he watched what Kennedy’s leadership had done to Star Wars.
By the time Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny hit theaters on June 30, 2023, the writing was already on the wall. The film grossed $384 million on a reported $352 million budget, a stunning disaster for a franchise that used to print money. The only part of the brand that still showed life came from outside Kennedy’s creative circle, the 2024 video game Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, which was actually well-received by critics.
In her exit interview, Kennedy tried to keep the door open for more Indiana Jones, claiming, “I don’t think Indy will ever be done, but I don’t think anybody is interested right now in exploring it. But these are timeless movies, and Indy will never be done.” Easy words for someone leaving behind a franchise in shambles. She presided over the fall of Star Wars, and now Indiana Jones has joined it in the dustbin of Hollywood nostalgia.
Maybe Lucasfilm will eventually try to revive these projects. But if Kathleen Kennedy had anything to do with them, it’s probably best they stay vaulted. Few people have done more to drain the life out of two of the most beloved movie series in history, and then have the audacity point fingers at “toxic fans” for noticing.
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