With his fedora and bull whip, few film characters are as iconic as Indiana Jones.

Across four hugely successful films, the adventurous archaeologist has become one of cinematic history's most recognisable and beloved heroes.

Harrison Ford is pulling on the battered hat and jacket for a fifth time in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, and he promises it will be the last time he plays Indy.

But is this really the end for Dr Jones?

'It belongs in a museum!'

Unlike James Bond or Batman, Indiana Jones has always been about one actor — even when it hasn't been.

While everyone associates Ford with the character, four other actors have played the intrepid adventurer, most notably the late River Phoenix, who played a young Indy in the opening scenes of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

The early '90s kid-friendly TV series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, which is yet to follow the films to Disney+, featured three actors in the title role — Corey Carrier as a kid Indy, Sean Patrick Flanery as Indy in his teens and 20s, and George Hall as an eye-patch-wearing 93-year-old version recalling his past exploits.

Ford even appeared in the episode Mystery of the Blues in a bizarre cameo that included Indiana Jones playing a saxophone.

Importantly, none of the other actors played Indy within the same age bracket that Ford did — Dr Indiana Jones, as a man who splits his time between teaching archaeology at college and uncovering ancient antiquities, has always been the domain of Harrison Ford.

'It's not the years, honey. It's the mileage'

After the fourth film, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in 2008, Ford indicated he was up for a fifth film so long as it didn't take 20 years to get made.

Now 80 years old and with a fifth film in the can, he's been far more definitive about his future as Indiana Jones.

"This is the final film in the series and this is the last time I'll play the character," Ford told Total Film.

But Ford being done with a character — or too old to play a character — hasn't previously meant the end of the road for that character.

'Fortune and glory, kid. Fortune and glory'

The other role that made Ford a superstar was that of Han Solo in Star Wars.

In 2018, Lucasfilm, which also owns Indiana Jones, released Solo: A Star Wars Story at cinemas, with Alden Ehrenreich as a young Han Solo.

The film was technically a box office bomb, in part because of a budget blow-out caused by Lucasfilm sacking directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller late in production, necessitating massive reshoots with new director Ron Howard.

Despite its poor box office performance, Solo received mostly positive reviews and has become a fan favourite, with plenty of praise for Ehrenreich's efforts following in Ford's footsteps.

It wasn't the first time the Star Wars has used new actors to play younger versions of much-loved characters — Ewan MacGregor's take on Obi-Wan Kenobi is now more beloved than Alec Guinness' original portrayal, if the memes are anything to go by.

Lucasfilm has even "revived" dead actors for film appearances. Peter Cushing and Carrie Fisher returned to the Star Wars franchise in Rogue One after they passed away thanks to some CGI trickery.

So what does this mean for the future of Indiana Jones?

'I don't know. I'm making this up as I go'

The head of Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy, has been asked about this a bit lately ahead of the release of The Dial of Destiny.

Fans online have been speculating Lucasfilm will hire a "new Indiana Jones" to keep the franchise alive, with Chris Pratt a popular frontrunner.

But in an interview with Variety, Kennedy said that wasn't the plan, citing the Alden Ehrenreich-Han Solo experience, perhaps unfairly.

"[Solo] may have certainly been a learning moment," Kennedy said.

"Some people have talked about how, well, maybe Solo should have been a TV show. But even doing Solo as a TV show without Harrison Ford as Han Solo … it's the same thinking.

"Maybe I should have recognised this before.

"Maybe I'm closer to the DNA of Indy, and always have been, than I was when I came into Star Wars, because now it does seem so abundantly clear that we can't do that."

But Kennedy left a door open for some kind of Indiana Jones-adjacent follow-up without Ford.

"It's Harrison's last entry," she told Entertainment Weekly.

"I mean, truthfully, right now, if we were to do anything, it might be in series television down the road, but we're not doing anything to replace Indiana Jones.

"This is it — there are five movies that Harrison Ford did. And Harrison is so specific and so unique to creating this role."

So that's it, right?

Well, you never know with Hollywood — after all, Ford famously claimed he would never play Han Solo again but then turned up in The Force Awakens.