Todd Howard Explains How the New ‘Indiana Jones’ Game Got Its Star

Todd Howard always wanted to create an Indiana Jones game. In 2009, the prolific director of titles like Fallout 3 came close, pitching an Indiana Jones game to LucasArts, the video game subsidiary arm of Lucasfilm. However, the collaboration didn’t end up happening. At the time, Howard and the developers at Bethesda Game Studios were riding high on the critical and commercial successes of 2002’s The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and 2006’s The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, but even so, Indy remained out of reach for the team.

Now, 15 years after his first attempt, Howard is finally getting his wish with Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Coming out Dec. 6, it will be the first major Indiana Jones game since 2009’s Lego Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues. Developed by MachineGames, the studio known for the modern Wolfenstein titles, The Great Circle has the potential to let fans live a specific dream: being Indiana Jones. The game is among the list of titles coming to Xbox Game Pass on its launch day, as part of Microsoft’s acquisition of Bethesda parent company ZeniMax Media in 2021. But the game will also be available for PlayStation users sometime in spring of 2025.

Ahead of the game’s release, Rolling Stone spoke with Howard, as well as voice actor Troy Baker who provided motion capture and VO for the character of Indy, about what made the original pitch collapse, what it means to (metaphorically) wear the fedora, and the current state of the next Elder Scrolls and Fallout games.

Bethesda’s dream comes true

Following the release of Fallout 3 in 2008, Bethesda’s profile had soared, and although conversations around an Indy collaboration began in earnest, they swiftly falling apart. Howard, executive producer of both the Elder Scrolls and Fallout series, attributes the breakdown of negotiations to who would ultimately publish the game.

“LucasArts, which was their gaming division, wanted to publish [Indiana Jones], and Bethesda was coming off of Fallout 3,” Howard tells Rolling Stone. “We were becoming a bigger publisher, and we wanted to publish it. So it never came to fruition because of who was going to publish it, not [making] the game itself.”

While it’s unclear what that original vision would’ve looked like had it come to fruition, The Great Circle takes place between the first and third films, Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and The Last Crusade (1989). Howard says that Raiders of the Lost Ark is not just his favorite entry in the series, but his favorite movie of all time. So, The Great Circle’s placement within the Indiana Jones timeline as a sequel to Raiders was a dream come true.

In Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indy is a little rough around the edges. He hasn’t yet been shown to be as heroic as we remember him in the other installments; he’s actually a bit more callous than he is in later films. “I like who the character is at that point of his life, how he looks but also what his motivations are,” Howard explains. “He’s a little bit more of a mercenary explorer. Very beyond focused and obsessed with pulling truth out of history.”

Howard developed the original story alongside the team at MachineGames, whose previous work on Wolfenstein: The New Order (2014) and Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (2017) made them a great fit for a game about combating Nazis — a conflict that plays heavily into The Great Circle just as it has in the films. The story details are still minimal outside of what’s been shown in trailers and short previews, but the game will once again see Dr. Jones chasing a relic desired by the Axis powers in the 1930s. On top of the Germans, players will also face off against the Blackshirts, part of Italy’s Nation Fascist Party.

Passing on the fedora

While Harrison Ford’s likeness is used for Indiana Jones, the person portraying him via motion capture and VO is veteran voice actor Troy Baker. One of the most prominent actors in the video game industry, fans may recognize him as the voice of Booker DeWitt in Bioshock Infinite (2013), Higgs Monaghan in Death Stranding (2019), or Bruce Banner in Marvel’s Avengers (2020). By far his biggest role until now has been Joel Miller in The Last of Us (2013) and The Last of Us Part II (2020), the part taken on by Pedro Pascal in the award-winning HBO adaptation of the game.

Baker was five years old when he saw Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981. He remembered watching the movie and being memorized by Indiana Jones, who used brains over brawn in order to cleverly escape predicaments. “I never thought that 40 years later I would be playing that character, and that’s truly mind blowing,” Baker says.

The first thing Baker did when he got the role was purchase an authentic Indiana Jones-like whip, then train with stunt actor Doc Duhame (Django Unchained, 2012) on how to properly crack it. Playing Indiana Jones is a physically demanding role, but he was determined to get it right so players can feel the immersion of embodying the character firsthand.

“I better know how to ride a motorcycle, ride a horse, crack a whip,” Baker explains. “Because if you don’t believe me when I’m just standing there holding the whip, you’re probably not going to believe it when you’re actually the one cracking the whip.”

For those familiar with his work, Baker seems like an obvious choice; his talents as one of the premier leading men in gaming have made him a go-to choice for AAA titles. His voice has a level of ubiquity that many players can recognize instantly (as many guessed it was him behind Indy from the first trailer). But the decision to cast Baker wasn’t so simple.

Funnily enough, Howard said he didn’t initially want Baker in The Great Circle. They both casually passed each other during industry events such as E3 and D.I.C.E. Summit, but never formally met. Upon being introduced for the first time through Zoom, Baker confirms Howard flat out told the actor to his face that he wasn’t what they wanted — at first. But there’s no hard feelings for Baker, who understood Howard’s position and took the sentiment as complimentary.

Casting actor Harrison Ford in the role he originated in the game was never fully considered either given the age of the character during The Great Circle. “We felt for this project and the time period it was set in, we cast a pretty wide net,” Howard says. After auditioning hundreds of people, Baker was chosen at the end. During the Zoom call, Howard told Baker, “I’ll have you know, we did a blind taste test, and people chose you every time.”

It belongs in a museum

Although the Indiana Jones franchise hasn’t seen any adaptations since 2009’s Staff of the Kings, it’s among good company with other Lucasfilm-licensed games like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (2023) and Star Wars Outlaws (2024), although the film-to-video game pipeline has slowed down over the years. Instead, the trend has reversed, with an increase in modern adaptations being developed for TV and film.

Several have thrived, such as HBO’s The Last of Us (2023) and Prime Video’s Fallout (2024), but many falter, like Lionsgate’s Borderlands (2024) or the Halo TV series, which was canceled this year by Paramount after just two seasons. According to Howard, who was creatively involved with the Fallout show, the success or failure of these adaptations ultimately boils down to telling great stories with respect to the existing lore and world-building.

“You have to stop thinking about the fact that [Fallout] was a video game, and don’t treat the gaminess of it as how you’re gonna present that,” Howard says. “So, just tell a great story in the world of Fallout! It doesn’t matter that it was a game.”

With Indiana Jones, Bethesda and MachineGames are aiming to translate the cinematic look and feel of the franchise to a playable experience. There are over three hours of cinematics in The Great Circle, every part of which is expected by fans to reflect what they know about the movies. For Howard, the challenge goes back to his feelings about the Fallout series; it’s less about 1:1 accuracy than it is nailing the spirit. “I think in both cases, you have to ignore the original presentation and think about the world and characters,” he says.

What’s next for Indy and Bethesda

Regarding the future of Bethesda and its upcoming games after The Great Circle, Howard says, “I don’t want to put them on a timeline, but I would say this: our current project is The Elder Scrolls VI. That’s our next big thing after [Indiana Jones]. We’ll see what comes and when.”

The Elder Scrolls VI was initially announced six years ago at E3 2018, and Xbox chief Phil Spencer last year confirmed that it was still “five plus years away.” Howard also previously confirmed that Fallout 5 is coming after The Elder Scrolls VI, so it’s unlikely to be seen anytime soon.

For the immediate future, however, Howard still sees himself at Bethesda. “It’s my home, it has been for so long. There’s so much creativity and I’ve been really fortunate to work with a lot of the same people for decades,” he explains. “The team has gotten bigger, and I see the new talent coming in and what we’re working on, and I’m still fired up every day when I come in and see all the work.”

While Baker handed over the reins to Pedro Pascal for HBO’s The Last of Us, he appeared in a smaller role as James, a member of a desperate group of cannibalistic settlers hunting Joel and Ellie. Even though 2023’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny was billed as the final film in the series, Baker isn’t opposed to having a role in future Indiana Jones properties if given the chance.

“I’ve learned to never count anything out. The fact that I got to play this iteration of Indiana Jones is a feather in my cap or trophy on the wall, whatever you want to call it,” Baker says. “Pedro Pascal taught me that I’m drawn to those characters who exist beyond one singular performance, and Indiana Jones has already proven that you can have multiple people playing in multiple stages of his life.”