Harrison Ford Hopes to Start Filming 'Indiana Jones 5' in 2018

09/13/2017 04:23 pm EDT

Disney has been focusing on the Star Wars universe ever since they purchased Lucasfilm in 2012, but they're gearing up to showcase the company's other gigantic property with the return of Indiana Jones.

Star Harrison Ford recently addressed the fifth movie in the franchise, being set to reprise his role as the adventurous archaeologist, when he revealed that the script is finally ready for him to read.

In a new profile by GQ for Blade Runner 2049, releasing this fall, Ford reveals the status of the film and indicated filming could begin as soon as next year.

In an excerpt from the publication:

The Indiana Jones franchise spluttered awake in 2008, with an older Jones finding new trouble in the postwar years, and a new Indiana Jones film is percolating. In fact, right at this very moment, as we sit here in his Santa Monica aircraft hangar, Ford's phone beeps with a text message telling him the new script is ready for him to read. He hopes it might happen in the second half of next year.

I ask him what this new Indiana Jones movie will need to be in order to have him fully engaged.

"Funded," he replies.

Screenwriter David Koepp recently revealed that the writing team was "plugging away at" the script, leaving the film's production in the hands of director Steven Spielberg and the film's star.

"In terms of when we would start, I think that's up to Mr. Spielberg and Mr. Ford," Koepp said.

In the same interview, Koepp revealed that Shia LaBeouf would not reprise his role as Mutt Williams, the son of Indy who was hinted to be taking up the mantle in the end of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. That development shouldn't be surprising considering how poorly LaBeouf spoke about his experience on the set and his time working with Spielberg.

With this new development and Ford's hopes to begin filming in 2018, we might be getting a new Indiana Jones movie just over 10 years after Kingdom of the Crystal Skull released in theaters.

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