The INDIANA JONES 5 director shares an alternate ending idea he’s been exploring

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny taken Harrison FordIt is Indiana Jones in one of his greatest adventures. The franchise has always offered fun and wild supernatural endings and this one is no exception. In this story, Jones finds himself on an adventure to find the ancient Archimedes dial, which in theory gives anyone who uses it the ability to travel through time. This story sets the stage for a great final journey for Jones.

I liked the way the movie ended, but James Mangold he says he had an alternate ending idea that he’s been exploring for a while. Before I go any further, I should let you know that Spoilers are on the way!

In the movie, Mads MikkelsenEvil Nazi character Jürgen Voller is trying to get his hands on the destiny dial so he can travel back in time to 1939 to kill Hitler so he can take his place and lead the Nazi party to victory. Once Voller got his hands on it, Indy realized there was a miscalculation in the way the dial worked, and that sent Voller and Jones back as far as 200 BC. There they interrupted a battle and Jones met Archimedes while he was in the middle of building the dial.

Mangold revealed that his alternate ending had Jones and Voller actually get to 1939, but with all the time spent talking about Archimedes, he felt it was more appropriate to bring the audience to that moment. He explained to Insider:

“I would never make that choice without mulling over a lot of choices. The other interesting thing is that one of the things I thought about was that even if we did time travel, Mads theory would have been right and they would have landed in Nazi Germany” And would the last act of the film have been Indy trying to foil Mads’ plan? But the more I sketched it out in my mind, the more it eventually became kind of a spy movie. I couldn’t find a way to emotional resonance.”

He continued, “It occurred to me that we talked a lot about three different time periods in the film: 1968, 1944 and 200 BC … So why don’t we go there? Because it’s the only one. I’ve heard a lot about it but I don’t I saw”.

It makes sense, especially for a character like Jones. Hell, when he got there he didn’t want to leave! It took Phoebe Waller BridgeIt is Helena Shaw who knocks him out and brings him home. By bringing Jones into that time period, she gave him an opportunity to experience something she had never experienced before. She added:

“The idea immediately moved me. The character of Indy would suddenly be confronted with something he’s only imagined his whole life. The reality of something he’s only looked through the keyhole of history and artifacts and at sudden is in. And what a powerful moment that could be played by Harrison himself.”

That’s why I loved the ending! That’s why I think the ending works so well. I know a lot of people don’t seem to like it, but it works perfectly for this story that Mangold wanted to tell.

What do you think of the ending of the film? Would you have liked to see the alternative version instead? Perhaps Indiana Jones would have bumped into himself!