"Indiana…let it go."

This was what the adventurer’s father said to him in the climax of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, as he hung by one hand from a cliff and reached with the other toward the Holy Grail. Ultimately, the words hit home. As much as he wanted one more treasure, he had gone far enough.

That’s apparently the conclusion Steven Spielberg just reached. The Oscar winner has decided not to direct a planned fifth movie about Harrison Ford’s punch-throwing archaeologist, multiple sources confirmed to Vanity Fair. Instead, James Mangold, director of Ford v Ferrari, Wolverine, and Logan, is in talks to take over the project, which is still set to hit theaters on July 9, 2021.

A source close to Spielberg told Vanity Fair, “The decision to hand over directing duties was entirely Steven’s,” adding that “he felt now was the perfect time to let a new director and a new generation give their perspective to the overall story and this film.”

Ford remains connected with the film, the last of three central figures to complete the series’s journey. George Lucas, who produced the other films and came up with the idea for the franchise during a Hawaii vacation with Spielberg, sold Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012, and has stepped back from direct involvement in the movies.

Mangold has been developing a musical drama starring Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan during the explosion of the folk-rock scene in the early 1960s, and a source close to him said that project would still happen. It’s doubtful it would be shot before the Indiana Jones film, since Ford has recently said he expected to begin shooting in the months ahead.

Postponing Indy 5 also doesn’t seem tenable. Ford turns 78 in July, and the physical acting involved in the part—running, swinging, fighting, swimming, falling—is bound to be a challenge even with a battalion of stunt doubles.

Little is known about the new film, except that a script was written by David Koepp, author of the thriller novel Cold Storage, and a veteran Spielberg scribe from Jurassic Park and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the fourth film in the franchise. That last go-round is also deeply divisive. It was all but rejected by longtime fans and inspired the term “Nuke the Fridge” as shorthand for when a story point defies belief. (The intrepid explorer survives a blast at a nuclear test site by hiding in a lead-lined refrigerator.)

Those same fans have been torn over whether there should even be a fifth film, with some saying it’s time to let go entirely. Others want to see a sequel that redeems the franchise and sends the character off with a more satisfying finale. Word of Spielberg’s departure, first broken by Variety, was greeted with shock and uncertainty by fans, along with some reassuring optimism about Mangold, who has an eclectic, award-winning filmography that also includes the Western 3:10 to Yuma, the Johnny Cash bio Walk the Line, and dramas like Girl, Interrupted and Cop Land.

Multiple sources said Spielberg is likely to stay closely involved with the project, and will serve as a producer.

Spielberg’s next film is a new version of the musical West Side Story, out December 18, starring Ansel Elgort and newcomer Rachel Zegler as the 1950s lovers caught up in a New York City street gang war. Over the years, the director’s tastes have gravitated toward historical epics like Lincoln, Bridge of Spies, and The Post, with a diversion to the pop-culture sci-fi world of Ready Player One.

He walked away from other sequels to his movies—first handing off the Jurassic Park franchise with part three in 2001, and showing zero interest in continuing with the killer shark in any of the Jaws follow-ups. Indiana Jones was one he always held on to. Until now.

More Great Stories From Vanity Fair

— Why Eminem performed “Lose Yourself” at the 2020 Oscars

— The Crown announces its new Queen Elizabeth II—and confirms its last season

— Legendary Oscar winner Lee Grant on the blacklist, sex, sexism, and the treatment of Renée Zellweger

— Hanging with Bill Murray on the set of Ghostbusters: Afterlife

— Inside the 2020 Vanity Fair Oscar party

— There’s a blank space at the center of Taylor Swift’s Miss Americana

— From the Archive: How director Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite marched toward Oscar night—and changed everything along the way

Looking for more? Sign up for our daily Hollywood newsletter and never miss a story.