Harrison Ford is famously one of the driest men on the planet, famed for his one-word quippy answers which are as brief and decisive as Indiana Jones pulling out a gun during a whip fight. Therefore, when he was asked why he’s joining the MCU now – after the series has been running for nearly 15 years and 30 movies – you may expect him to respond with something blunt like; “money.” However, his answer is a little more eloquent than that.
Now that he has passed the age of 80, Ford is trying new things. Not least of which is television. Ford has gone almost his entire career without ever going near a TV set, and he’s certainly never been a main character in a TV show. That has now changed with firstly 1923, the Yellowstone spin-off, and is set to continue in January 2023 with Apple TV’s Shrinking.
Ford is no stranger to franchises of course – as he is best known as Han Solo in Star Wars, as well as Indiana Jones. But up until now, he’s managed to avoid the Marvel machine. That is until he steps into the shoes of the recently departed William Hurt, as Thaddeus Ross in the upcoming Thunderbolts.
Speaking to The Playlist about deciding to lead a television show in 1923, Ford said; “To me, the quality of the work that they’ve been doing there is evident. So, my ambition to be part of that doesn’t seem to be, to me, too much of a stretch. We assume there’s this big difference between television and films. It’s really just the destination for it [that’s different]. There are great opportunities to tell complicated and ambitious stories on television, but it’s just where you show it.”
“This has got very high-quality cinematography. This would play very well in a movie theater. But Taylor thinks of these things, not as television, but he thinks of them as one-hour movies, and we’re going to make eight or ten of them. So, there’s very high ambitions and standards.”
And as for joining the MCU? Ford said; “Hey, look, I’ve done a lot of things. I now want to do some of the things I haven’t done.” So, there you have it.
While we wait for Thunderbolts, check out our guide to Marvel’s Phase 5.