Harrison Ford’s emotional send-off to Indiana Jones at D23 is hype-worthy

To see was the first time that I saw a movie without supervision. Indiana Jones and The Temple of DoomIn 1984. At the time, I was 10 years of age. It was quite shocking to see someone’s still beating heart being ripped out of their chest. The film also uses horrendous racist stereotypes, which I later discovered. However, I felt an emotional tug of nostalgia as I saw the photo that was being shared on social media.

The photo, taken backstage at Disney’s D23 Expo, shows Ke Huy Quan, who played plucky kid Short Round in Temple of Doom, embracing Harrison Ford. Quan was there because he’s been cast in season 2 of Loki. Ford showed attendees the original footage of Indiana Jones 5. Quan is sporting his cheeky smile, and Ford holds Quan around the shoulders with obvious joy. Quan posted the photo to his Instagram with the caption, “Indiana Jones and Short Round reunited after 38 years.” Obviously, the internet fell in love with it.

This well of feeling is partly attributable Quan’s feelgood story: He gave up acting in the 1990s, but was catapulted back into the public imagination last year, at the age of 50, in You Can Have Everything at Once. But mostly it’s stirred by the shock of the legendarily grumpy and publicity-averse 80-year-old screen icon Ford — whose on-screen range runs from “annoyed” to “amused, but slightly annoyed” to “very worried and also annoyed” — actually looking happy. Public! While doing press!

That was just the beginning. On stage, a shaky but twinkling Ford stunned the audience by being moved almost to tears as he thanked them for their support, predicted that this “fantastic” movie would “kick your ass,” and appeared lost for words as he praised his costar Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s “heart.” He only regained his famous insouciance at the very end as he confirmed this would be the last time he played the iconic adventurer. “I’m delighted to be here again, maybe for the… no, not maybe. It’s it! I will not fall down for you again!”

It was a sharp contrast with the man who, asked by Jimmy Fallon if he’d got emotional when slipping back into his other iconic role, Han Solo, for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, replied: “No, I got paid.” Even though they’re both pulp adventure heroes, and both created by George Lucas, for some reason Solo has always brought out Ford’s irascible side (he says he argued for the character to be killed off “for 30 years”), while he speaks about Doctor Jones with much more warmth. “To me, what was interesting about the character was that he prevailed, that he had courage, that he had wit, that he had intelligence, that he was frightened and that he still managed to survive,” he told The Telegraph in 2013. “That I can do.”

Finding excitement about another effort to bring back a franchise that is well-known from the intellectual property vault is difficult. This has been the case for Disney in particular in recent years. But it feels like there’s one good reason to care about Indiana Jones 5: Harrison Ford cares. It is clear that he cares deeply. In his eyes, this character — and definitely not Han Solo — is his legacy. Perhaps, in James Mangold, who so memorably capped off Hugh Jackman’s time as Wolverine in Logan, he’s found the director with the sensibility to do it. Perhaps, in Waller-Bridge, he’s found the younger echo the character needs. He might just want Indy a better epitaph. Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. Even without seeing the footage that was shown at D23, it finally feels possible to hope that he’ll get it.

Indiana Jones 5, which doesn’t have a final title yet, will be released on June 30, 2023.