This previous summer saw the return of the great adventure to the big screen in the form of Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny. Dial of Destiny is set to be the last in the franchise, sending off Harrison Ford’s titular adventurer. 

Donning the fedora one last time, Indiana Jones must struggle with his growing insecurity about his age while chasing an evil scientist attempting to steal an old artifact rumored to be capable of time travel. 

The film’s ending saw Indy and his companions travel back in time, where the archaeologist initially decided to live out the rest of his days. The course of the story is one that confused audiences, but director James Mangold recently spoke about why the story flowed that way. 

“As writers, we faced it. But it would be … First of all, he would die in the past, away from his wife and anyone who knew and loved him. It seemed … in a sense, it would be self-destruction by obsession with the past? … I agree that he wanted to stay, but I don’t think it was for my — and I know what Harrison was playing,” Mangold told CinemaBlend, according to ComicBook.com. 

Mangold made a point to elaborate on the idea of the world changing around Indy. Most of the movie takes place in 1969, close to 40 years after the original trilogy occurred, and shows that Indy feels the world has already passed him by. His marriage is crumbling, his son has died, and technology has moved so far ahead that no one honors the past any longer, giving Indy a feeling of decreasing importance as a history professor. Mangold also added that starting fresh and leaving all problems behind would attract anybody in Indy’s shoes; the movie emphasized the allure of staying in a historically significant period for someone with his background.

“And I think that’s what he was playing because he was dropped into a place that’s intrinsically attractive to him and absent of all the pain that he was experiencing in his own life at that point,” Mangold added. 

Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny is now available to own on Blu-Ray and stream on Disney+.