Indiana Jones and the Great Circle’s Place on the Timeline Explained

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home December 12, 2024 18 Views 7 Min Read
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle’s Place on the Timeline Explained



1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark was a standalone story from George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, designed to be a modern version of the classic 1930s action movies they grew up watching. But Raiders of the Lost Ark came out just four years after Star Wars changed the game for blockbuster cinema, and just one year after Empire Strikes Back. It was the dawn of the blockbuster franchise, and Indiana Jones quickly seized its opportunity.




Raiders soon received a second installment, and even got a few video game adaptations. It wasn’t long before Indiana Jones had become a fully-fledged entertainment franchise, with multiple movies, TV shows, novels, comics, and video games under its belt. But it’s been a long time since the series’ golden era, and newcomers might not know exactly how Indiana Jones and the Great Circle fits into the wider franchise timeline, or what key events in Indy’s life play a role in the new adventure game.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Animals

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Where Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Fits in The Series Timeline

1912 – Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’s Flashback Sequence

The third movie released chronologically, 1989’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade features an opening prologue that takes fans all the way back to 1912. This flashback sees a 13-year-old Indiana Jones (played by River Phoenix) getting into his first confrontation with a gang of grave robbers. This flashback shows the origin of the hero’s penchant for whips, his fear of snakes, and even offers an in-universe explanation for Harrison Ford’s real-life chin scar.


The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles
TV show from the early 1990s then details the young hero’s adventures from 1912-1920, but it’s unclear if this show is still considered canon.

1935 – Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Released second in real-world chronology, 1984’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is actually a prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark, taking place roughly a year before it. Temple of Doom sees a 36-year-old Indy head to India with reluctant companion Willie Scott and trusty sidekick Short Round. The trio stumble upon a nefarious scheme to use the mysterious Sankara Stones for evil, and they put a stop to it.

1936 – Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark

The movie that started it all, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark released in 1981, and it sees a 37-year-old Indy on the hunt for the eponymous artifact. Along the way, Indy teams up with Marion Ravenwood, the daughter of Abner Ravenwood, Indy’s old mentor. When Marion was around 16 and Indy was about 27, the two had a brief romance. Indy left the Ravenwoods suddenly and dropped all contact with them.


After a heated reunion where Marion finally gets to express her anger towards Indy for leaving, the two head off in search of the Ark of the Covenant, and eventually end up rekindling their relationship. At the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indy and Marion walk off into the sunset, presumably to continue their life together.

1937 – Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

Set around a year after the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle begins with an immersive recap of that first movie, letting players take control of Indy during the iconic Temple of the Golden Idol opening sequence. As players run away from the infamous boulder, they hear voices ripped right out of Raiders of the Lost Ark, including Marion’s.

Indy then wakes up in his office at Marshall College. It’s quickly revealed that Indy is no longer with Marion, having abandoned her just a week before their wedding to seek out an ancient cat mummy in Siwa. When Indy returned from Siwa, Marion was gone.


Indiana Jones and the Great Circle also takes place just one year before the bulk of The Last Crusade‘s story, where Indy and his estranged father reconnect on their way to find the Holy Grail. This means The Great Circle‘s story takes place 20 years before Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and 32 years before Dial of Destiny.

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