John Rhys-Davies is reportedly coming back into Indy's life in Indiana Jones 5, but despite the return of a beloved legacy character, bringing him back is a mistake. Sallah is a beloved part of the Indiana Jones franchise, aiding Indy in both Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Though many will undoubtedly be excited at the prospect of Sallah returning alongside Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones 5, discussions about representation and casting sensibilities have changed significantly since the 1980s, and there are other legacy characters who may be better choices to bring back.
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Sallah Mohammed Faisel el-Kahir first appears in Raiders of the Lost Ark where he is played by the white, Welsh actor John Rhys-Davies. He aids Dr. Indiana Jones in discovering the Ark of the Covenant. He later appears in Harrison Ford's third Indiana Jones movie, The Last Crusade, where he fails to stop the Nazis from kidnapping Marcus Brody and later helps lead Indy and his father, Henry Jones Sr. (Sean Connery), to the Holy Grail. Rhys-Davies was offered a cameo appearance in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but declined due to it being such a small role.
Indiana Jones director Steven Spielberg created a great character in Sallah and Rhys-Davies delivered a fun performance, but Sallah is unfortunately built on racist stereotypes. Importantly, the character is far less fleshed out than his white counterparts Indiana Jones, Henry Jones, and Marion Ravenwood. While he is not as overtly problematic as Mola Ram in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, he is still an inauthentic caricature of an Egyptian man written and represented by white people. His bumbling manner and stereotypical speech pattern signal a lack of authenticity, something that has been brought to light in many films in recent years. Simply put, Sallah can be said to perpetuate "Orientalism," the practice of making non-Western landscapes and people seem exotic and fantastical for the benefit of the white viewer: one of the Indiana Jones' movies most problematic elements.
Sallah Being Played By John Rhys-Davies Is A Diversity Issue
Casting a white actor (even a great one like John Rhys-Davies) to play a character of color was always problematic, it was just accepted as the norm when the Indiana Jones trilogy was released. With prominent discussions about representation, diversity, and whitewashing now a regular point of discussion, it seems an odd decision to bring back Sallah. He was undoubtedly a great side character to Indiana Jones and Marion Ravenwood, but in an age where audiences are reflecting on the past and acknowledging mistakes when it comes to representing minority ethnic groups, bringing back a white actor to play an Egyptian man is problematic.
Spielberg's Indiana Jones series was notorious for featuring predominantly non-diverse casts, even extending to casting non-white characters with white actors like Rhys-Davies. When paired with the Orientalist tropes, particularly in the Indiana Jones prequel, The Temple of Doom, with its harmful presentations of Indian people and culture through the character of Mola Ram and others, this casting demonstrated a lack of care for authenticity. While director Steven Spielberg did what he thought was appropriate at the time, Mangold's production has the benefit of years of hindsight and much discussion. His decision to ignore this issue and bring Sallah back may please many viewers, but it also shows a disregard for listening to minority voices complaining about their characters being whitewashed.
Indiana Jones 5 Needs Legacy Characters
However, it is also important to note the affinity that many viewers who grew up with the original Indiana Jones trilogy will feel for John Rhys-Davies' Sallah. As the film marks the fifth outing of Harrison Ford, again proving that he is not too old to play Indiana Jones, many want to see the return of Sallah, as well as Karen Allen's Marion Ravenwood and Ke Huy Quan's Wan Li, better known as Short Round. As other iconic characters such as Henry Jones Sr. and Marcus Brody cannot appear due to their actors sadly having passed, some may well be excited at seeing Sallah back on screen due to his connection to Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade. Additionally, if director James Mangold wants to capture the spirit of the original Indiana Jones trilogy after the disappointing critical response to Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, bringing back a legacy character is a logical step.
There are no details about what the plot of Indiana Jones 5 is yet, though actors such as Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, and Antonio Banderas are confirmed to appear. It is impossible to accurately predict where Sallah will fit into the narrative, but his inclusion hints that Harrison Ford's Indiana Jones may be returning to Egypt for his next archeological adventure. Mangold may feel that bringing back Sallah is important for longtime viewers of Indiana Jones, but the benefits of his inclusion in any Indy story, no matter how small or large, are outweighed by the fact that having Rhys-Davies play an Egyptian man is an outdated concept of a bygone era of cinema.
Indiana Jones 5 Should Use Short Round, Not Sallah
Mangold can have an Indiana Jones legacy character reappear without invoking the practice of whitewashing, as bringing back Short Round is the most obvious answer. Indy's former sidekick, Short Round, who would likely go by Wan Li now that he is an adult, was mainly a joke character in the grim setting of Temple of Doom, where Short Round mostly existed to poke fun at the relationship between Indy and Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw). He, too, was somewhat problematic, as he was a caricature of a Chinese boy who spoke in one-liners and broken English. However, with Ke Huy Quan returning to acting with Everything, Everywhere, All at Once, the actor is in the perfect position to join the cast and do Wan Li right this time.
Bringing back Short Round would give longtime viewers of the Indiana Jones series a healthy dose of nostalgia and allow the film to actually redeem the shortcomings of Steven Spielberg's Temple of Doom by treating the character with respect. While Rhys-Davies' Sallah is beloved by many, having a white actor portray an inauthentic caricature of an Egyptian person has been acknowledged as unacceptable, particularly while minority actors still struggle to get roles in Hollywood. It is therefore a mistake to bring Sallah back in Indiana Jones 5, as Mangold seems not to have learned from the mistakes of the past and will allow the practice of whitewashing to persist in his major Hollywood blockbuster.