'Indiana Jones 5' Director Explains Why Shia LaBeouf's Character Was Killed Off, Says Actor's Past Comments Didn't Affect the Decision

Shia LaBeouf‘s character Mutt Williams is not featured in the new movie Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and director James Mangold is explaining why the character was killed out of the franchise.

Mutt was introduced to the world of Indiana Jones in 2008′s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Indiana discovered in the fourth movie that Mutt is his son who was kept from him by former love Marion Ravenwood. They formed a great relationship by the end of that movie, so it’s probably surprising to fans that he’s not back in the new movie.

James explained the reasoning in a new interview and said that Shia‘s negative comments about the franchise did not affect the decision.

Keep reading to find out more…

Shia said back in 2010, “I feel like I dropped the ball on the legacy that people loved and cherished.”

He said in 2016, “I don’t like the movies that I made with Spielberg. The only movie that I liked that we made together was ‘Transformers’ one.” Shia also talked about getting the chance to work with the director. “You get there, and you realize you’re not meeting the Spielberg you dream of. You’re meeting a different Spielberg, who is in a different stage in his career. He’s less a director than he is a f–king company.”

Spielberg directed the first four movies in the Indiana Jones franchise, but Mangold took over for the fifth.

“It’s separate from all past studio, political intrigue on movies I didn’t make,” James told Variety. “You were either going to make a movie all about the two of them [meaning, Indy and Mutt] or you’re going to have to find a way to not have [Mutt] around, because he was too significant a player in the previous film to just pretend he didn’t exist.”

“I didn’t think his whole thing worked that well in the previous film. I just went towards something else because it was what was more interesting to me,” James added.

Here’s what happens in Indiana Jones 5 to explain Mutt’s absence.