David Koepp says that it was "very hard" to get everybody to agree on an Indiana Jones 5 script. Fans have been waiting to see Harrison Ford return to the iconic role for over a decade now. As it stands, Disney still has the long-awaited movie on schedule to release in July 2022, though it's unclear if that will end up happening at this time. Additionally, the public health crisis has probably also slowed the development process for Indiana Jones 5 down too.

Steven Spielberg is no-longer directing the movie, which was revealed this year. Instead, Logan director, James Mangold, will be behind the camera. In a new interview, David Koepp, who left Indiana Jones 5 in 2016, only to come back in 2018 and leave again in 2020, reveals why it was so difficult to get everybody on board. Koepp had this to say about why getting Indiana Jones 5 off the ground has been so hard.

"I tried a couple different versions with Steven [Spielberg] and they all had some good stuff about them and they all had some stuff that didn't work, which happens. But it was just very hard to have everybody come together and have all the elements - Steven, Harrison (Ford), the script and Disney - come together at once. And it didn't."

Once Steven Spielberg left the project, David Koepp knew it would probably be a good idea for him to leave too. "When James Mangold came in and Steven stepped out, that was a pretty logical breaking point," he says. Koepp also noted that it was a "gracious time to step out the door." Koepp went into further detail about why it was time he left Indiana Jones 5, which you can read below.

"I think the last thing a new director wants is the old director's writer. I mean, that's a drag. The last thing you need is some guy sitting around with his arms folded saying, 'Well, the way Steven would have done it is...' I had one nice friendly conversation with him and then I'm sure he wanted to be able to move on anyway. Everybody was pretty polite, I thought."

It's unclear if any of the ideas that David Koepp and Jonathan Kasdan worked on for Indiana Jones 5 will make it into the movie, though they probably won't. James Mangold may write Indy 5 all by himself this time around to offer a fresh take on the source material. He received an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay with Logan. However, that has yet to be confirmed at this point in time.

Disney just announced a whole lot of new release dates for their upcoming slate, which includes some delays. As for Indiana Jones 5, which they still plan to release on July 29, 2022, it's unclear where the development process is at this point. Harrison Ford will turn 80-years old in July 2022 and he would probably like for production to begin sooner, rather than later. The interview with David Koepp was originally conducted by Den of Geek.