Saddle up, don the fedora and crack that whip: Harrison Ford is back as the intrepid archaeologist in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.

The film premiered at Cannes, where Ford was awarded an Honorary Palme d’Or in recognition of his life’s work.

Reviews for the fifth film in the franchise have been mixed, and it is the first Indy film not to be directed by Steven Spielberg (this time, it’s James Mangold, best known for his motor-racing drama Ford v Ferrari).

But this is “event” cinema that combines nostalgia, old-school special effects and John Williams’ iconic score.

So, Ford is back, aged 80. What draws actors back after all this time?

Ford first played Indy in 1981 and last played him in 2008. That is a full 15 years since the most recent film in the series, and 42 years since his first outing in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Ford has form in returning to celebrated characters. One of the great pleasures of watching The Force Awakens back in 2015 was seeing Ford play Han Solo again for the first time in over 30 years.

Actors return to roles for numerous reasons:

financial (Ford was reportedly paid US$25 million for Dial of Destiny)

protection of their brand, image and star persona (Michael Keaton returning to play Batman after three decades and three other actors who have embodied the role)

professional (Tom Cruise admitted over the 36 years between Top Gun films he wanted to make sure the sequel could live up to the original)

personal (once-huge stars are working less and less, and only feel the need to return to a built-in fan base every few years – Bill Murray in the 2021 Ghostbusters sequel springs to mind).

It’s not always a successful endeavour.

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone – two of the biggest action stars of the 1980s off the back of iconic roles as The Terminator, Rocky Balboa and John Rambo – have repeatedly returned to those roles, and critics have been particularly harsh.

It did not work for Sigourney Weaver in Alien: Resurrection in 1997, 18 years after her first time as Ripley; nor for Keanu Reeves in The Matrix Resurrections in 2021, 23 years after the original.

And still, I’m intrigued to see what Michael Mann could do with his long-rumoured sequel to Heat, his definitive 1995 crime film. Ever since Mann published his novel Heat 2 last year – a kind of origin story for Heat’s key protagonists – fans have been hoping a de-aged Al Pacino (now aged 83) might return as LA cop Vincent Hanna.

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