Did Star Wars boss block Harrison Ford's MCU casting news?

According to Sneider: So what I initially heard is that this was a done deal for D23, that they actually wanted to announce him as a cast member in Thunderbolts at D23 but that they didn't because Kathleen Kennedy put her foot down and said, 'No, we're going to keep the focus on Indiana Jones 5 content, I don't want this to become Harrison Ford joining the MCU, we're going to keep the focus on Indy 5 right now. Sneider also recently broke the news that the Marvel Studios Blade reboot lost its director and is going to be rewritten. This initial speculation has been confirmed by Marvel Studios and Beau DeMayo (Moon Knight, X-Men '97) is being brought on board to rewrite the Blade script.

It seems odd that Lucasfilm and its head honcho went out of its way to stop a major casting announcement for its sister division Marvel Studios under the Disney banner. But the reasoning appears to be to keep the focus on the upcoming Indiana Jones 5, being the swan song for Harrison Ford in this iconic role. Allegedly, announcing Harrison Ford joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe might have taken away some of the Indiana Jones hype.

During the Indiana Jones 5 panel at D23, Harrison Ford tearfully praised the footage and what is in store in the final outing of the iconic adventurer: Indiana Jones movies are about mystery and adventure, but they're also about heart. We have a really human story to tell, as well as a movie that will kick your ass. Meanwhile, the Marvel Studios panel at the D23 event presented the first look at the Thunderbolts. The covert team of super-operatives will include Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Red Guardian (David Harbour), and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), with Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus).

General Thaddeus E. Ross would have played as an overseer of the government sanctioned team. It was also speculated that he would be part of it, by becoming the Red Hulk (with Hurt continuing to voice the role). But with the passing of William Hurt, these plot points might have to be abandoned unless a new actor is cast.

Harrison Ford would certainly be a fine actor to take over from Hurt. As one of the most famous actors in genre films such as Star Wars and Indiana Jones, Ford would bring star power and his fans to the upcoming Thunderbolts film. And he has taken on roles in an advisory capacity before, as seen in Ender's Game (2013) and The Expendables 3 (2014).

Indiana Jones 5 is set to arrive in theaters on June 30, 2023. Meanwhile, Thunderbolts will be released on July 26, 2024.