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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Entertainment
Lauren Gordon & Ellie Kemp

Harrison Ford quits Indiana Jones franchise after more than four decades

Harrison Ford will no longer be part of the Indiana Jones franchise, after playing the iconic character for 42 years.

The 80-year-old confirmed his upcoming performance in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny will be his last in the franchise. Ford took up the role as the daredevil archaeologist in the original movie back in 1981 and as since returned for each of the franchise's instalments, spanning across four decades.

In the latest instalment, Harrison will star alongside Mads Mikkelsen and Phoebe Waller-Bridge as he races against time to retrieve a legendary dial that can change the course of history. But Ford revealed that he wouldn't be returning after the fifth film, reports the Mirror.

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"This is the final film in the series," he shockingly revealed. "And this is the last time I’ll play the character. I anticipate that it will be the last time that he appears in a film."

Despite leaving the franchise, Harrison admitted that he'd been "ambitious" to do the film for a decade and found joy in working on it. He said: "I had been ambitious to do this film for 10 years, and there finally came a time when we all committed to that. It was a joyous moment for me. I think it’s a rare situation that I find myself in."

Harrison Ford has played Indiana Jones for more than four decades (Getty Images)

He told Total Film: "I’ve been able to deliver amazing films developed by Steven [Spielberg] and George [Lucas] over a 40-year period, and to end it not with a whimper, but a bang, has been my greatest ambition for this excursion."

Ford was also aware of an Indiana Jones TV series being "actively" created by streaming platform, Disney Plus. However, echoing his former statement on about the Indiana Jones franchise, he insisted that he "will not be involved in that if it does come to fruition."

It's not yet clear whether the series will be a prequel or a spin-off, or whether it'll be connected to the upcoming film, however, bosses have stated that it will be "set in the world" of Indiana Jones.

Back in the 90s, a similar TV spin-off for Indiana Jones was created a became the first TV show to follow the adventures of the famed explorer. It aired for two seasons.

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