Indiana Jones Wiki
Indiana Jones Wiki
Indiana Jones Wiki
8,149
pages
in: Americans, Characters alive when last seen, Characters appearing in Young Indiana Jones bookends, Jones family

Sophie

Sign in to edit

"Oh my goodness, we're late! If we don't leave right now, we're gonna miss the tea and cookie presentation."
―Sophie to Indiana Jones[src]

Sophie[5] was the daughter of Indiana Jones,[3] the sister of the late Vietnam War veteran Mutt Williams[3][6] and the apparent mother of Spike and Lucy.[3][4]

Biography[]

One day in 1993, Spike and his band were playing music in the garage. This prompted a group of neighbors to complain. They knocked on the elderly Indiana Jones' door, and he went to the garage to investigate. He pulled the plug and proceeded to compare Spike's efforts to that of some of his Chicago friends in 1920. By the time Jones was finished, his daughter Sophie had joined the group in listening to the story.[3]

Later that year, she and Jones were due at Lucy's school. However, Jones got caught up in a soap opera while vacuuming, which prompted his daughter Sophie to turn off the television. He protested and she referred to the program as "trash". Although she wished to leave, Jones told her the story of how he participated in the Easter Rebellion in April 1916—relating this back to the issue at hand. After he had finished, he hoped to return to his soap opera, but the program had ended. He and his daughter then went to Lucy's school.[4]

Behind the scenes[]

"Sophie" in ""

"Sophie" in "Peking, March 1910"

A daughter for Indiana Jones was first written into Rosemary Anne Sisson's teleplay for The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles episode "Peking, March 1910" (scripted as "China, March 1910") where "A daughter, SOPHIE[,] and SON-IN-LAW in their late forties sit at the head and foot of the table" during Thanksgiving 1991.[5] In the bookends of the finished episode, a woman wearing an apron follows Jones's granddaughter Caroline into the room with food before taking her place at the foot of the table.[1]

The episode was filmed as the eleventh of the first season of the television series but broadcaster ABC, unhappy with the show's ratings, took The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles off the air after six episodes to re-evaluate the schedule.[7] "Peking, March 1910" instead became part of the show's second season,[8] with the unnamed Sophie character's first appearance becoming a single panel image which included the back of her head for Dark Horse Comics' adaptation of the episode.[9]

"Old Indy's Daughter" was written into the bookends for "Chicago, May 1920", intended as episode 18.[10] However, in the US, "Chicago, May 1920" and the preceding "Chicago, April 1920" dropped the initial bookend segments and were edited together to become the feature-length Young Indiana Jones and the Mystery of the Blues framed by Harrison Ford.[7][8] Some overseas markets broadcast the original Old Indy segments,[8] where the filmed episode's end credits list Susan Bigelow as playing the role,[3] although she's not the original Sophie performer in "Peking, March 1910",[1] and appears only briefly at the end of the episode,[3] as the part was cut down from the teleplay where the character is involved in the introductory segment.[10] Bigelow reprised the role uncredited for "Ireland, April 1916", in which her character is a more substantial element of the framing device.[4] In the end, "Peking, March 1910" was broadcast after both Bigelow episodes aired.[8]

During the development of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, screenplays considered giving Indiana Jones and Marion Ravenwood a 13-year-old daughter. However, Spielberg objected to the idea, finding it too similar to The Lost World: Jurassic Park.[11] Instead, a son was developed for Indy and Marion. According to Crystal Skull screenwriter David Koepp, the son (Mutt Williams, played by Shia LaBeouf) was developed by Jeff Nathanson and George Lucas.[12] LaBeouf himself said he would have preferred Indiana Jones had a daughter in the film (who was long-rumored to be played by Natalie Portman, who portrayed Padmé Amidala in the Star Wars prequel trilogy) instead of a son.[13]

Relationship with the Joneses[]

"I tend to figure there's some untold story that accounts for Indy's extended family - grandson Spike (S2E5A) and Indy's (unnamed) daughter (S2E12)."
―Pablo Hidalgo[src]
"Old Indy's Daughter" listening to her father in "".

"Old Indy's Daughter" listening to her father in "Ireland, April 1916".

The relationship, if any, between Indy's daughter and his wife Marion and son Mutt remains unclear. Mutt was not introduced to the Indiana Jones canon until Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull[6] and was later revealed to have died in the Vietnam War prior to the events of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, set in 1969,[14] with the continuity around the framing bookends muddied by their being from an officially released source but later removed from subsequent editions and set during a time period not likely to be referenced by a future title.[15]

The teleplay for "Peking, March 1910" identifies Sophie as being in her late forties during the bookend scenes which take place in 1993.[5] Actress Susan Bigelow herself was in early forties when she taped the later segments as Indy's daughter. This suggests that Sophie was likely born sometime between the mid-1940s to early 1950s, a period when it has been established that Marion Ravenwood was explicitly not part of Indiana's life[6] and during a period where Jones was still sexually active.[16] Indy admitted to Marion in 1957 that he had been involved with "a few" women in the two decades since she had previously exited his life, allowing for any number of unknown offspring to be conceived during their estrangement.[6]

In the bookends for the episode "Vienna, November 1908", "Old Indy" mentions having multiple children,[17] while Dial of Destiny indicates that, as of 1969, Mutt was his only child.[14] Similar to learning about his then-grown son Mutt decades after his birth, it is possible that Indy learned of other offspring years after their conception too: Neither Indy nor Sophie mention her mother or childhood in the bookend scenes, nor is there any indication that Jones was present during her upbringing. "Sophie" and "Old Indy's Daughter" may also be separate children.[1][3][4]

While commenting on the "Old Indy" bookends in 2023, Pablo Hidalgo of the Lucasfilm Story Group voiced his personal preference for some "untold story" that accounts for Indy's extended family as seen in Young Indy over their being discounted wholesale.[18]

Appearances[]

Notes and references[]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles – "Peking, March 1910"
  2. ↑ The teleplay for "Peking, March 1910" identifies Sophie as being in her late forties, during the events of the episode's bookends, which is set in 1993. This would then place Sophie's birth somewhere near the mid-1940s.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles – "Chicago, May 1920"
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles – "Ireland, April 1916"
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles – "Peking, March 1910" teleplay
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 The Cinema of George Lucas
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Young Indiana Jones Episode List at Inner Mind
  9. ↑ Peking, March 1910 comic
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles – "Chicago, May 1920" teleplay
  11. ↑ The Complete Making of Indiana Jones, Chapter 11: "Atomic Ants from Space: May 1989 to June 2007" p.231-247
  12. ↑ Peter N. Chumo II (May/June 2008). "Matinee Magic: David Koepp and Indiana Jones Enter the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull". Creative Screenwriting 15 (3).
  13. ↑ "Shia LaBeouf Calls His 'Indiana Jones' Character A 'Thick-Skinned Little Fighter,' Reveals His Crush On Natalie Portman" at MTV.com
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
  15. ↑ The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles → The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones
  16. ↑ Indiana Jones started being sexually active in 1916, as seen in The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles episode "Paris, October 1916", remaining active well into 1969, as shown in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
  17. ↑ The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles – "Vienna, November 1908"
  18. ↑ Lucasfilm Story Group member Pablo Hidalgo on whether Old Indy is canon at Reddit

External links[]

Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
More Fandoms