Why did Spielberg never direct an episode?

Raiders90

Well-known member
I understand he's not a TV director but given all the past associates and friends of George who contributed to the show (from Carrie Fisher to Harrison himself) you'd have thought that Spielberg would've guest directed one episode. Anyone know why he never got involved on any level?
 

Udvarnoky

Well-known member
Young Indy really didn't last that long. It got cancelled less than 18 months into its broadcast run and taken off the air before it had even finished airing its second season. Spielberg would have been working on both Jurassic Park and Schindler's List at the time, so I doubt it was something he could have even entertained.
 

seasider

Active member
I can understand the not directing part but he didn't even have an Executive Producer credit on the show or really any credit at all for that matter. It was almost like he wanted nothing to do with the thing.

I suspect he may have looked at Young Indy as breaking his own promise that Last Crusade was to be his last ride with that character. Ironically, it was not long after Young Indy ended that we first started hearing the Indy 4 rumors with Spielberg's involvement.
 

Udvarnoky

Well-known member
I think part of the explanation is that Spielberg and Lucas intended Last Crusade to be the finale for different reasons. For Spielberg, it was because he wanted to move on and make other kinds of films. For Lucas, who considered himself responsible for coming up with the Indy plotlines, it was because he was simply out of ideas. Lucas was still interested in the character in a way that Spielberg was not, which is why he proceeded with Young Indy.

It's also why, when Lucas had his Eureka moment and decided there was a story for a fourth movie involving an aging Indy in a cold war context, he started developing the material with screenwriters pretty much by himself, while Spielberg was content to hang back and be a producer. It took a while for Spielberg to get interested in directing the project. Some would argue that he never really did get interested, except maybe during the Darabont interlude.
 
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