Harrison Ford Convinced Steven Spielberg And Co. To Make A Fourth Film
The final shot of 1989’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade sees Indy, Prof. Henry Jones, Sr. (Sir Sean Connery), Marcus Brody (Denholm Elliot), and Sallah (John Rhys-Davies) riding into the sunset in a seemingly perfect conclusion to the saga. Well, as Steven Spielberg recalls on a making-of documentary about the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull on the Indiana Jones movies Blu-ray collection, that was exactly his intention. He had no interest in continuing with the franchise until Harrison Ford expressed interest in another sequel, citing the fans as a major reason for it.
In a 2000 interview with an Italian newspaper (via Archive.Today), Spielberg also cited his own children as a major influence on his decision to revive the franchise, for which George Lucas already had an idea that was out of this world.