Indiana Jones and Han Solo are Harrison Ford’s most iconic roles, and while it wasn’t by design, he ended up playing both for the same number of years. Movie stardom came relatively late for Ford, who was in his mid-30s when he broke through with the original Star Wars. For the next two decades, he enjoyed an incredible run of success, earning critical acclaim for movies like Witness and The Fugitive, while occasionally returning to profitable franchises like the Jack Ryan movies.
Of course, Harrison Ford’s biggest movie franchises are Star Wars and Indiana Jones. In interviews, he clearly prefers the latter to the former and famously campaigned to have Solo killed off in the finale of 1983’s Return of the Jedi. That didn’t come to pass, and while he once swore off ever reprising the role again, he was convinced to return for legacy sequel The Force Awakens – where he finally earned his biggest wish. At least with Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’s ending, Ford’s titular character signed off on a happy note.
Harrison Ford Has Spent 8 Years Retiring His Biggest Characters: How Each Exit Compares
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny sees Harrison Ford’s third and final exit from a major legacy franchise, but how do all his departures stack up?
Harrison Ford Played Both Han Solo & Indiana Jones For 42 Years
Han Solo’s death in The Force Awakens served an important story function and signaled his son Kylo Ren had truly given himself to the Dark Side. Ford likely thought that was all for his Star Wars run, but he later made a surprise cameo in the sequel trilogy capper Rise of Skywalker. From the release of the original Star Wars in May 1977 in the U.S. to The Rise of Skywalker in 2019, Ford played Han Solo for 42 years in total; this is the same length he played Indiana Jones too, beginning with 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark and closing with 2023’s Dial of Destiny.
The synchronicity of Ford playing both Indy and Han for the same number of years is a total coincidence, of course, though it’s an interesting one nevertheless. Ford has stated he’s finished with the Indiana Jones character following the fifth entry too, and while there are more Star Wars films on the horizon, it’s hard to picture a scenario where he would agree to return for any of them.
Harrison Ford Can Beat His Star Wars & Indy Stints With Blade Runner 3
While not exactly an action-adventure saga in the same vein as the Indiana Jones or Star Wars movies, Blade Runner is another of Ford’s best-known franchises. Despite receiving rave reviews, 2017’s Blade Runner 2049 was a box-office dud, and the next outing will be Amazon’s Blade Runner 2099, a limited TV series. It’s unlikely Ford’s Deckard will appear in the show, but from time to time, Ridley Scott still teases a potential third movie.
Should Blade Runner 3 happen and Ford returns, he could easily beat his 42-year stints as Indiana Jones and Han Solo. Considering the last entry was a financial bomb and that Scott – who expressed regret over not returning to helm 2049 himself – is busy on other projects, the odds of another Blade Runner with Ford or Scott feel slim. Still, nobody expected Harrison Ford to play Han Solo ever again, so wilder things happened.
