Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny Ending Explained: Decoding How the Climax to Harrison Ford's Action Film Closes the Book on This Iconic Franchise (SPOILER ALERT)

After 40 years of taking us on adventures, the Indiana Jones franchise has finally come to an end with Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny. Being Harrison Ford’s final film, it sees Indy go on an adventure with his goddaughter Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) to find the Dial of Archimedes and beat the Nazis to the chase who are also gunning for the same item. Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny Movie Review: Harrison Ford’s Swashbuckling Saga Ends on an Underwhelming Note (LatestLY Exclusive).

The film does put a definite ending on Indy while not really hinting of a future in any way. A case could be made for Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Helena Shaw to continue the franchise, but the film doesn’t even set up that meaning this is really it. So, let’s dive deep into the ending of Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny and see how it closes the book on this iconic franchise.

Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny Ending Explained:

The film begins in 1944 where we see Indy infiltrate a Nazi camp alongside Baz Shaw (Toby Jones) to steal an artefact and ends up finding one half of the Dial of Archimedes, a device that can be used to travel through time, but is currently under the possession of the Nazi physicist Jurgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen). However, Indy is able to gets his hands on it and after a chase with the Nazis is able to make off with the artefact unharmed alongside Baz.

We are then taken to 1969 where Helena Shaw, Baz’s daughter, tracks Indy down and asks him for help to retrieve the other half of the Dial, all the while the Nazis led by Voller are on his and Helena’s tail. Framed for murder by them with Helena running away with the other half of the Dial and looking to sell it on the black market, Indy decides to come out of retirement and retrieve the other half before it can be used for any misdeeds.

The film even begins off with Indy having lost his son in the war and his marriage with Marion (Karen Allen) being ruined. Alone in life now, he goes on this journey with many regrets and thinks he doesn’t belong to the world anymore. So, it sets up this arc for him where the journey is basically him going on this one adventure and coming to terms with himself.

At the end of the film, Helena and him are able to find the dial, but not before Voller and his forces making it to Archimedes’ tomb as well. Taking in Indy as a hostage with Helena escaping, she goes back for him and finds out that he is on a plane with Voller intends to use the device to go back to 1939 Germany, and replace Hitler as the Fuhrer and win World War II. Helena makes it on to the plane while Teddy (Ethan Issidore), Helena’s friend, is chasing them with another plane - and Voller uses the device only to find out his calculations were wrong. They end up in 212 BC right in the middle of the Siege of Syracuse.

Indy and Helena jump out of the plane while the it gets damaged in the battle and crash lands with Voller also dying in the process. Archimedes sees the plane crash nearby him and rushes to see who the people are. Shocked at meeting him, Indy tells Archimedes that he is from 2000 years in the future and that his device actually works. Indy tells Archimedes that he wants to stay there with him and not go back to his future with Helena begging him to come back in Teddy’s plane. Reluctant to the idea of going back, Helena punches Indy and knocks him out. He then wakes up in his apartment in the present.

Reunited with Helena and Sallah, she tells him that wasn’t where he was supposed to stay and Marion walks in through the door with groceries. The couple share a tender moment before Helena and Sallah decide to give them privacy. The film then ends with Indy grabbing his hat before we cut to the credits. That’s pretty much the ending to the film.

There is no sequel setup over here, neither is there any setup for Phoebe Waller-Bridge to carry on the franchise as well. So, it does look like Lucasfilm is keen on letting this franchise rest which is something refreshing considering the Hollywood machine is not so keen on letting go the past. However, we really can’t rule out the fact that a Waller-Bridge lead spinoff might be announced in the future. Who knows? We don’t really have the Dial of Archimedes to know what will happen. But, it’s just nice to know that Indy does indeed get his happy ending. Indiana Jones Dial of Destiny: Harrison Ford Reveals His Otherwise Invincible Character Has a Weakness ‘Ravaged by Time’.

Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny is playing in theatres right now.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 30, 2023 11:36 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).