George Lucas Not Involved With Indiana Jones 5's Story

George Lucas, who created Star Wars and Indiana Jones, is apparently not involved with Indiana Jones 5's story, though he is expected to be a producer.

Writer David Koepp told Collider that Lucas is not contributing to the story for the fifth movie in the series that stars Harrison Ford as the whip-wielding archaeologist action hero. Koepp also wrote 2008's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which is the latest entry in the series.

"He's not, to my knowledge," Koepp said about if Lucas is involved with the fifth movie. "I've had no contact with him."

This marks a big change for the Indiana Jones series, as Lucas worked on the stories for all previous films, dating back to 1981's Raiders of the Lost Ark. Fans may be happy to know that Steven Spielberg is again returning to the director's chair for the new movie. In June this year, Spielberg stressed how important Lucas continues to be for the Indiana Jones series.

"I would never make an Indiana Jones film without George Lucas. That would be insane," he said.

There was some question about whether Lucas would continue to work on the Indiana Jones series after selling it--along with Star Wars--to Disney in 2012. He was not involved in the production of Star Wars: The Force Awakens and in fact spoke out about the story, saying it strayed from his vision.

Plot details for Indiana Jones 5 are being kept under wraps for now, though we do know the fate of Indiana Jones himself. If you want some totally fake information, Koepp didn't hold back.

"All I can say is that there's lots of aliens and Indy dies at the end (laughs)," Koepp told Collider. "Lots of hiding in lead-lined refrigerators, aliens, and he dies. Should go over very well."

Some films that get announced never come out, but Koepp said he's optimistic Indiana Jones 5 will see the light of day; it is scheduled to hit theaters in July 2019.

"It feels like it has a lot of momentum behind it. We have 'top men' working on it as we speak (laughs). It's going really well," Koepp said. "I really like our idea; I think it's clean and simple and makes a lot of sense, and I feel like the writing is going really well."

Ford will be 77 when the film opens.

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was considered a disappointment by many fans, but it grossed more than $786 million worldwide. Altogether, the Indiana Jones series has brought in nearly $2 billion at the global box office across all four releases.

"Indiana Jones is one of the greatest heroes in cinematic history, and we can't wait to bring him back to the screen in 2019," Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn said in a statement when the fifth movie was announced in March. "It's rare to have such a perfect combination of director, producers, actor and role, and we couldn't be more excited to embark on this adventure with Harrison and Steven."