Attention, Hollywood: Here Are the Women We Want to See as Indiana Jones

The fifth Indiana Jones movie doesn't begin filming until April 2019. However, director Steven Spielberg is already raising hopes for the future of the franchise by acknowledging that it may be time for a female Indiana Jones.

In an interview with UK news outlet The Sun, Spielberg stated: "This will be Harrison Ford's last Indiana Jones movie, I am pretty sure, but it will certainly continue after that."

When asked if he'd consider a female for the role, the director nodded in the affirmative, saying, "And there would be nothing wrong with that."

While Spielberg didn't elaborate on his intentions to develop Indy's feminine side, the role is one that requires charm, humor, gravitas, fight skills, and enough maturity to have earned a PhD. With those thoughts in mind, let's count down the 10 women we'd love to see utter the catchphrase, "Snakes. Why'd it have to be snakes?"

01
Rachel Weisz
Getty

Rachel Weisz

Weisz tops our list based on her role as Evelyn Carnahan, the librarian-turned-archaeologist in The Mummy and The Mummy Returns. Those movies show she's mastered the subtle nuances of the comic adventure story. Plus, her Oscar and Golden Globe-winning work in The Constant Gardner is evidence she can pull our heartstrings.

Some may argue her recent commitment to dramatic films like The Light Between Oceans puts her outside the casting net for Summer blockbusters, but we believe her experience on both sides of the emotional spectrum would give Indy the gravitas and levity required of a professor-turned-whip-cracking adventurer. Let's hope this mother-to-be loves leather jackets and fedoras as much as we do.

02
Jessica Chastain
Getty

Jessica Chastain

Chastain is no stranger to action. We've seen her tough side as the tenacious CIA operative who tracked down Bin Laden in Zero Dark Thirty, and she honed her skills as a villain playing one of the main adversaries in the upcoming X-Men: Dark Phoenix. Most recently, she's starring as the determined artist who captures portraits of Sitting Bull in Woman Walks Ahead, and she's joined the cast of hot property It: Chapter Two, where she'll play Beverly Marsh, the female member of the Losers Club.

This well-rounded résumé, dotted with big-budget popcorn flicks, has us thinking Chastain has both the talent and the face recognition to headline the kind of Summer blockbuster that made Dr. Jones a household name.

03
Evan Rachel Wood
Getty

Evan Rachel Wood

We could recap her list of credits but with her currently riding horses and stringing up bad humans on Westworld, that hardly seems necessary. While her star-making turn as the gun-toting Dolores-Wyatt hybrid is dynamically different from Indy, both productions overlap into the fantasy-action genre sufficiently enough that we can practically see Wood shooting down a sword-wielding rebel then looking toward the camera with a surly stare.

04
Danai Gurira
Getty

Danai Gurira

Between Michonne and Okoye, a turn as Indiana Jones would fit right into Gurira's brand of badass brilliance. Moreover, audiences would love to see her fully cross over from TV to film with her own franchise.

In a world where Josh Brolin plays a villain in both Deadpool 2 and Avengers: Infinity War, why couldn't our favorite katana-wielding actor star in two of Disney's largest properties?

05
Emily Blunt
Getty

Emily Blunt

With A Quiet Place breaking over $200 million worldwide, Blunt is the It Girl who keeps returning to the spotlight. Later this year, she'll star in Mary Poppins Returns, adding triple-threat credentials to a credits list that already includes big-budget action with Tom Cruise in Edge of Tomorrow as well as the larger-than-life retelling of a fairy tale in The Huntsman: Winter's War.

We're not even going to mention the dry wit she gives us in The Devil Wears Prada — all proof she can master any role.

06
Priyanka Chopra
Getty

Priyanka Chopra

From her letters about Meghan Markle to her endorsement with Pantene to the return of Quantico, this talented singer/model turned actor is everywhere. Having this multilingual, butt-kicking philanthropist as the newest Dr. Jones would give her a much-deserved movie franchise here in the states — and no, Baywatch doesn't count . . . even though she was by far the highlight of that film.

07
Zoe Saldana
Getty

Zoe Saldana

What major movie series hasn't she been a part of?? Saldana has appeared in installments of Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Trek, Avatar, and Marvel's Cinematic Universe — but her name has rarely been at the top of the marquee. Giving supermom Saldana a crack at Indiana Jones would allow her to show off the grace and wit that elevated Colombiana from a revenge flick to a blustery tale of self-discovery.

08
Kristen Wiig
Getty

Kristen Wiig

Wiig is a dark horse due to her outlandish seven-season stint on Saturday Night Live. Fans unfamiliar with her dramatic work in Mother! may not be able to take her seriously as Dr. Jones. But with Wiig playing Cheetah, Wonder Woman's nemesis whose alter ego is an archaeologist much like Jones, she may prove a worthy opponent for a doomed temple or two.

This could be her chance to step out of the comic shadow of films like MacGruber into the bright lights of the action world. If Robert Downey Jr. can do it (SNL cast member 1985-1986), why can't she?

09
Charlize Theron
Getty

Charlize Theron

Theron has recently hit the big screen with three blockbuster action flicks — Mad Max: Fury Road, The Fate of the Furious, and Atomic Blonde (and its upcoming sequel) — that have left critiques and audiences raving. Also, let's not forget her superhero turns in Aeon Flux and Hancock.

Combine those efforts with her Oscar nomination for North Country and her win for Monster and you have a seasoned actor with the fight skills and gravitas to play Indiana Jones.

10
Kate Beckinsale
Getty

Kate Beckinsale

Indiana Jones is a character with an interesting aesthetic dichotomy in that the professor must look convincingly nerdy while ensconced in academia and suitably athletic in the jungle. Beckinsale is one of the few actors on this list who can pull off both looks and deliver believable butt-kicking stunts. And with her work in Van Helsing and the Underworld series, we know she'd be staunch opponent for the Mola Ram or any other duplicitous foes.