Indiana Jones 5 could potentially use a scrapped Last Crusade storyline

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Indy ain't 'fraid of no ghost

Harrison Ford and Sean Connery in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
(Image credit: LucasFilm)

Whispers about Indiana Jones 5 started years ago. We've salivated over every development crumb tossed our way, no matter how small. And finally, we get a double whammy of news. First, Indiana Jones 5 starts shooting in the UK this month. And second? The upcoming sequel might feature a paranormal storyline from an abandoned Last Crusade script.

Den of Geek suggests that producer Steven Spielberg might be turning to an unused Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade screenplay to inspire the sequel's opening. Penned by Chris Columbus, Indiana Jones and the Monkey King starts with our gruff hero battling a Scottish specter named Baron Seamus Seagrove III…. while on vacation. No doubt Indy would be pretty miffed to have his leisure time disrupted by a ghost, which makes the idea of this serving as the first scene pretty appealing.

The theory follows that, based on set photos from the movie's first shooting location in Northumberland, Spielberg and friends might be revisiting the storyline. Pre-production on the much-anticipated sequel has been underway for months, a process involving lengthy set construction. This happens to include a castle. Pics of the half-finished build were revealed over on Reddit and Twitter which aligns nicely with other rumors hinting at the film shooting at Bamburgh Castle. 

The local Northumberland Gazette reports of a production scheduled to take place June 4 – June 12 involving "a lot of NDAs (non-disclosure agreements) apparently." This certainly sounds like a big Hollywood production.

That's all well and good, but how does this castle line up with the Scottish ghost theory? Donning our finest monocle, we conducted some sleuthing of our own (ahem, we read the script), and… well, it checks out.

The opening of Columbus' screenplay finds Indy's peaceful fishing vacation interrupted by shenanigans in the local village, leading him to a mysterious haunted castle. Its description certainly paints a creepy picture: "An enormous, 16th CENTURY stone structure. Tall, foreboding towers, lined with menacing GARGOYLES, pierce the night sky."

The Indiana Jones franchise is a family-friendly affair for the most part, so this spooky beginning might not be quite the pant-browning pre-credits sequence it sounds like. Although, let's not forget what happened to the Nazis at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Yeesh.

Indiana Jones 5 is scheduled to land in theaters July 29, 2022. In the meantime, check out the best movies on Disney Plus.

Gem Seddon
Gem Seddon

Gem Seddon is GamesRadar+'s west coast Entertainment News Reporter, working to keep all of you updated on all of the latest and greatest movies and shows on streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime. Outside of entertainment journalism, Gem can frequently be found writing about the alternative health and wellness industry, and obsessing over all things Aliens and Terminator on Twitter.