Harrison Ford: Saying goodbye to Indiana Jones doesn't compare to Han Solo or Rick Deckard

Harrison Ford has suggested that saying goodbye to Indiana Jones in the Dial of Destiny was more satisfying for him than saying goodbye to Han Solo in 2015's Star Wars: The Force Awakens and 2017's Rick Deckard in Blade Runner 2049.

Talking at a press conference for the fifth and final Indy movie, Ford described making Dial of Destiny as "singular experience" explaining that he doesn't "put it in the same category with other films".

The 80-year-old actor has been on a victory lap of sorts over the last decade, returning to many of his famous roles for one last hurrah, and Dial of Destiny was imagined as a swansong for the swashbuckling archaeologist all along.

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The actor was asked what made this new farewell different to the aforementioned movies, Ford said: "I can't say that I know an answer to that question. I mean, this is a singular experience. It has been a singular experience that, somehow, [I] don't put it in the same category with other films."

Asked to elaborate further, he added: "It doesn't feel different, but it feels good because of the shape of this goodbye."

"It feels good to me because I feel that we've made a really satisfying film for the audience."

Dial of Destiny picks up the story of Indiana Jones in 1969 in an entirely new chapter of his life with the famed academic preparing to retire from teaching at a New York college.

He's feeling his age, and struggling through a divorce from Marion (Karen Allen, whose character he married in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull), when adventure calls for one last crack of the whip.

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"We've taken our concern, our interest in the character, and tried to shape a story that would bring this character back into their lives with an interesting story," said Ford.

"And I think given the people that we've involved in the character and nature of the story that Jim [Mangold] has created for us, it's a splendid goodbye."

Talking about the death of Han Solo in The Force Awakens — in a much more peripheral role than his one in Dial of Destiny — Ford told Jimmy Kimmel in 2020: "I figured that [Han Solo's utility had been exhausted, bled out, and I was willing to die for the cause to bring some gravitas."

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Ford's return as Deckard in Blade Runner 2049 was also less central to Denis Villeneuve's film, which instead focussed on the story of Ryan Gosling's K, only introducing Deckard partway through.

Talking about what Indiana Jones means to him after playing him in five movies across 42 years, Ford told the press conference: "The character means to me what he means to the audience, because that's the service and that's the contract between us. I'm obliged only to give my best in the story that I want to tell.

"When it's received with the warmth and the generosity that Indiana Jones has over this period of time, it's, to me, an incredible generosity to me and I take it personally.

"It means a great deal to me that people like what we've done. And I hope that they will appreciate this contribution."

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is in UK cinemas and IMAX from 28 June.

Watch a trailer below: