Director James Mangold Finally Explains That Wild Indiana Jones 5 Ending

For Mangold, the key was in Indiana’s age, and how it informed the character as a hero of a bygone era, which in turn informed the plot starting in the past. “When we did start writing, it was my theory that at first that we would end up back in Nazi Germany in 1938,” Mangold continued. Given that the movie opens in Germany during the war, going back to that time makes sense in a “Back to the Future 2” kind of way. Except, as Mangold explains, the audience is already anticipating that, and it would mean just repeating the opening of the film “with a 79-year-old Indy running around.”

The solution, according to Mangold, was to go with something “more shocking, something bolder, and something that also affected Indy.” Going back in time to Nazi Germany would be more about Mads Mikkelsen’s Voller and his goals than Indy himself. Instead, by bringing everyone’s favorite archeologist back to Ancient Greece, a place he spent the entire movie talking about, the stakes become personal. He’d be facing “bigger questions about his own life and what he studied all his life” according to Mangold. The result is a poignant send-off for Indiana, an ending that is about him facing a personal challenge rather than the villain getting punished. Surprisingly enough it is similar to another recent blockbuster about an old man facing a changed world.