MOVIE NEWS – With Kathleen Kennedy stepping down from Lucasfilm, more and more shelved projects are starting to surface – and it turns out the studio once had not one, but two separate Indiana Jones series in development. One was an animated project internally nicknamed “Reggie,” reportedly meant to fill in the adventure gaps between the original trilogy films. The other was a live-action concept centered on Abner Ravenwood, but both appear to have been dropped long before any official announcement ever happened.

Ever since Kathleen Kennedy’s exit from Lucasfilm became public, a steady stream of behind-the-scenes details has begun to leak regarding what the studio was working on – and what it ultimately chose to abandon. According to a new report, Lucasfilm had two different Indiana Jones series in development at one point, and one of them sounds like something fans have been asking for for years: an animated show that would have followed Indy on untold adventures set between the events of the classic films.

The Wrap reports that director Rodrigo Blaas – known for his work on Star Wars: Visions – was developing an Indiana Jones animated series that was internally referred to as “Reggie.” The nickname was reportedly inspired by Jock Lindsay’s pet snake from the opening sequence of Raiders of the Lost Ark, a deep-cut reference that suggests the project had a strong attachment to the franchise’s roots.

Details remain thin, but the animated series would have followed Indiana Jones on fresh adventures taking place in the timeline between the original trilogy of films. At the same time, Lucasfilm was also working on another Indiana Jones series in 2022 – one that was reportedly intended as live-action and centered around Abner Ravenwood, Marion Ravenwood’s father and Indy’s mentor figure, who is only mentioned in Raiders of the Lost Ark. It is still unclear when either project was officially shelved, but the report suggests both were likely paused before the release of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny in 2023.

A Podcast Mentioned A Scrapped Indy Project Back In 2025

This isn’t the first time rumors of an Indiana Jones animated series have circulated. In March 2025, actor Griffin Newman hinted at such a project during an episode of his podcast, Blank Check with Griffin and David. Newman said he had once read for an animated Disney+ project that he believed was a young Indiana Jones-style series – but with a tone closer to River Phoenix’s version of the character than to the classic Young Indiana Jones format.

Newman also described how the audition materials were allegedly disguised as a “Star Wars” project, which made the reveal even funnier: once he read the sides, he claimed it was obvious the show was really Indiana Jones. The characters reportedly had alien-style names, but the setting and themes – universities, adventuring, collecting relics – made the disguise paper-thin. Newman ultimately said the show never happened, and he speculated that development complications around Dial of Destiny may have pushed Lucasfilm to focus on the film instead of expanding the franchise on the side.

Both the animated series and the Abner Ravenwood project could have still been alive as late as 2022, during Disney+’s aggressive content expansion era. However, it is likely they were put on ice following Bob Iger’s return as Disney CEO in November 2022, when several streaming plans across the company were reassessed and scaled back.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny ultimately premiered on June 30, 2023, and became a box office disappointment, grossing $384 million against a reported budget of $352.3 million. That performance seemingly paused any major plans for the franchise – aside from the long-in-development video game Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, which launched in October 2024 and earned strong critical praise. Still, in her exit interview, Kathleen Kennedy suggested the character is far from finished, saying that while no one seems eager to explore the franchise right now, “Indy will never be done.”

Source: MovieWeb