Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny was meant to serve as a return to form for the long-running franchise, especially after 2008's Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Instead, it's proven to be surprisingly divisive and, as things stand, a box office flop.
The movie does, however, deliver a happy ending for the iconic adventurer, and star Harrison Ford has now shared his thoughts on the way Indy's story wraps up.
"I think it's a good choice to leave him in the condition we see him at the end of the film," the legendary actor tells Entertainment Weekly. "Most of his problems have been solved, dealt with. He's back to the form that we like to see him in, I think. And I think it's a wonderful last scene. I really like it."
As for whether he ever considered bidding a definitive farewell to the character by killing him off, Ford says "Because the script came out, and it didn't have Indiana Jones dying, so we didn't really need to talk about it. It came up in conversation a few times, and [Mangold] said he didn't want to be the one to kill me."
Director James Mangold elaborated on that in the same interview, revealing he was all too aware that people expected Indy to die after the way he chose to conclude Wolverine's story in Logan.
"The reason death worked in Logan is because of the beautiful irony of his death, which is that he lived such a painful life, that it was only in the last 30 seconds of his life that he actually got to experience love," the filmmaker says. "And that to me was what was so moving about that ending,"
"But, for Indiana Jones, it isn't about him dying. It had to be about him coming to terms with this period of his life and this period of the world," Mangold continues. "And in a way, coming to terms with whether Indiana Jones has relevance to ours."
Debate will likely continue to rage about whether this was the right ending for Indiana Jones...and whether he should have ever been brought back, for that matter. Ford appears happy with the ending, though it will be interesting to see if he eventually weighs in on the negative response.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is now playing in theaters.