Indiana Jones (franchise) Lucas, Spielberg, Frank Marshall, and Kathleen Kennedy met during the American Film Institute's tribute to Ford, and decided they wanted to enjoy the experience of making an Indiana Jones film again. Spielberg also found returning to the series a respite from his many dark films during this period. Spielberg and Lucas discussed the central idea of a B-movie involving aliens, and Lucas suggested using crystal skulls to ground the idea. Lucas found these artifacts as fascinating as the Ark, and had intended to feature them for a "Young Indiana Jones" episode before the show's cancellation. M. Night Shyamalan was hired
Indiana Jones and the Iron Phoenix was featured as a central villain. After this game, LucasArts briefly considered making a game named "Spear of Destiny" (involving the spear of Longinus). They eventually abandoned the idea of creating a classical adventure game in the "Indiana Jones" series, instead focusing on "Tomb Raider"-style 3D action games. Thus, ending it with the release of "Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine", followed by "Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb" and "Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings". Since the game, "Indiana Jones and the Iron Phoenix" was canceled, Dark Horse Comics released a four-part comic book series based upon it.