The upcoming Indiana Jones 5 from director James Mangold feels “like a Spielberg film” according to star Mads Mikkelsen. In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Mikkelsen discussed joining another tent-pole franchise, revealing that the 1981 classic Raiders of the Lost Ark is one of his absolute favorites and that Indiana Jones 5 will harken back to both the original movie and its sequel, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

“[Raiders of the Lost Ark] was one of my favorite films, and it just oozed that golden period of serials from the 1940s — and that’s in the fifth film as well. They’re going heavily back to the first and second film and getting that original feel, the original Indy, something dense and epic. It felt like a Spielberg film, though it’s obviously James making it with the same vision.”

It should come as a relief for fans to hear that Indiana Jones 5 will be aiming for the same tone and atmosphere as the first two movies in the series. Not much has yet been confirmed about the direction of the sequel, but ongoing rumors have suggested that the franchise will be sent into outer space. While Indy himself may not blast into the cosmos, reports have since claimed that Indiana Jones 5 will reunite the adventurer with his old enemies, the Nazis, through their involvement in the 60s Space Race.

Further rumors have claimed that Mads Mikkelsen will play "a Nazi scientist enlisted into NASA by the United States government to work on the space agency's moon landing initiative." While his exact role in the story is currently unknown, it would not be surprising to learn that Mikkelsen will be adding another complex villain to his ever-growing roster.

Mads Mikkelsen Calls Harrison Ford a Very Nice Monster

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Paramount Pictures Studios

Indiana Jones 5 will of course see Harrison Ford reprise the title role of the beloved adventurer. Ford is now 79 years old and suffered an injury while filming, with production having to find ways to shoot around his absence. Mikkelsen was asked about Ford’s well-being following the injury, and well he managed the return to such a physical role.

“It was the first time I met him, and he’s an insanely powerful person. Not just as an actor, but physically. I remember the first day we were shooting, it was a night shoot, then we stopped at 5 a.m. — and then he got on his mountain bike and went biking for 50 kilometers. Harrison is a monster of a man, a very nice monster.”

Directed by James Mangold, with a script co-written by Mangold, Jez Butterworth, and John-Henry Butterworth, Indiana Jones 5 stars Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Thomas Kretschmann, Boyd Holbrook, Shaunette Renée Wilson, Toby Jones, and Antonio Banderas alongside Harrison Ford and Mads Mikkelsen.

Indiana Jones 5 is scheduled to be released on June 30, 2023. As for Mikkelsen, audiences can first see him once again in the villain role in another huge franchise, playing Dark Wizard Gellert Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, which hits theaters on April 15.