John Rhys-Davies Returning To His Fan-Favorite Role
John Rhys-Davies is making a return as Sallah in Indiana Jones 5 where he'll be rejoining Harrison Ford after appearing in Raiders of the Lost Ark
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While Steven Spielberg is making the film festival rounds promoting his newest film, The Fabelmans, one of his most beloved franchises is getting a fifth go at it. Indiana Jones 5 will star Harrison Ford as the titular Indiana Jones, this time directed by James Mangold of Ford v. Ferrari fame. Now, it appears that Welsh actor John Rhys-Davies may be returning to a role he originated in the first set of movies for the franchise as well.
According to a report by CBR.com, John Rhys-Davies will appear as Sallah in the upcoming, as-of-yet titled, Indiana Jones 5. The 78-year-old actor first costarred as Sallah in Raiders of the Lost Ark, the first of four films as part of the Indiana Jones franchise. He later showed up in the third installment, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade but skipped the second and fourth films in the series.
This is welcome news for a loyal Indiana Jones fanbase seeing as how this will be the first time that Steven Spielberg has not directed a movie in the franchise since its inception in 1981. Prior to John Rhys-Davies starring in Raiders of the Lost Ark, the actor had not performed in many films until that point, relegated to a career in television in his native United Kingdom.
The same year that he was filming the first Indiana Jones installment, he costarred in the miniseries Shōgun, of which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. He failed to win the top prize.
Raiders of the Lost Ark may have introduced the world to John Rhys-Davies as Sallah, but it also solidified Harrison Ford’s career as an action star who could take on another franchise outside of Star Wars. The original film was based on a story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman, and also starred Karen Allen and English actor Denholm Elliott.
Allen would go on to join Ford again in 2008’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, reprising her role as Marion Ravenwood opposite Cate Blanchett and Shia LaBeouf.
Sallah is a character that John Rhys-Davies took very seriously when he first appeared as the character in Raiders of the Lost Art. Deemed to be an Egyptian excavator and seemingly old acquaintance of Harrison Ford’s Indiana Jones character, Sallah provides much-needed hilarity in a movie that used the comic relief angle quite well.
Sallah became a fan favorite for many audiences who saw the first film, which went on to gross over $380 million at the box office against a budget of $20 million.
Details and plot points for Indiana Jones 5 are still currently under wraps, but cast announcements have come in sparingly. It has been confirmed that Ford will be back as the whip-wielding archaeology professor, but joining Ford and John Rhys-Davies will be a new generation of adventurers, including Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen, Boyd Holbrook, Shaunette Renée Wilson, and Antonio Banderas.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge has also joined the cast of the fifth installment to the franchise as the goddaughter to Ford’s Indiana Jones, although her character may end up being more of a femme fatale than initially expected.
