LOS ANGELES – American director James Mangold, who is helming the upcoming fifth Indiana Jones movie, has refuted the rumour that actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge will be taking over the beloved character.

The Emmy-winning English star of Fleabag (2016 to 2019) shares the screen with American actor Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny, out in June 2023.

It will most likely be 80-year-old Ford’s final outing as the swashbuckling archaeologist of the title – and this has fuelled talk that Waller-Bridge, 37, who plays his god-daughter Helena, will don Indy’s iconic fedora.

Speculation intensified after the trailer dropped last Thursday.

“One more time. No one is taking over or replacing Indy or donning his hat, nor is he being erased through some contrivance,” Mangold wrote on Twitter last Saturday. “And he never was, not in any cut or script – but trolls will troll – that’s how they get their clicks.”

He continued: “The difference between trolling a******s and everyone else is they are trying to make money off your feelings about other films and culture war politics.

“They push controversial guesses as coming from sources to gin up clicks. Let it go.”