While Harrison Ford is set to reprise his role as Indiana Jones in Spielberg's fifth movie for the franchise, the director is apparently open to shaking things up as the series continues. That includes, according to an interview with Page Six, gender-swapping the titular character, following in the footsteps of other recently-swapped franchises, like Ghostbusters and possibly James Bond.
"We’d have to change the name from Jones to Joan," he told the outlet. "And there would be nothing wrong with that."
Actually, there is something wrong with that. Gender swap away, I don't care, but let's get one thing straight: "Jones" is a last name. If we change "Jones" to "Joan," the character's full name would be Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Joan. That's...still a man.
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I know beggars can't be choosers, especially when it comes to female-led action films, but if we're going to stick to traditional gender names and roles, then let's at least do it properly. I, for one, think a woman can play a bullwhip-wielding doctor who saves the world without a hokey feminized name, but especially in the case of Indiana Jones, it's literally not necessary! Indiana can be a woman's name! A female Indiana Jones would be named Indiana Jones! Is this thing on??
I guess it's a moot point anyways, since filming for the next Ford-led movie doesn't even begin for another year.
"This will be Harrison Ford’s last Indiana Jones movie, I am pretty sure, but it will certainly continue after that," Spielberg assured Page Six. So that's plenty of time to brainstorm a gender-swap that makes a little more sense — because, come on, if we're really gonna do this, a female-led Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones would obviously be named "Henrietta."
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