Indiana Jones and the Great Circle’s place in the timeline & is it canon?

Indiana Jones is back for another adventure, this time trying to stop sinister forces from harnessing the power of the Great Circle.

In this first-person action-adventure game developed by MachineGames and Bethesda, Troy Baker takes on the legendary role as he races around the world fighting Nazis, Blackshirts, and other baddies.

There have been five films alongside a prequel TV show, books, and other video-game spinoffs so you might be wondering where Indiana Jones and the Great Circle fits in the timeline. And, can it be considered canon?

When is Indiana Jones and the Great Circle set?

Set in 1937, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle takes place between Raiders of the Lost Ark and the Last Crusade.

In an interview with IGN, Lucasfilm Games executive producer Craig Derrick said, “the story that you experience in this game enriches those films, as much as the films bring a lot of story back to this.” So, it’ll bridge the gap between the two films.

We know Dr. Marcus Brody, Indy’s long-time friend and Dean of Marshall College, will appear but 1937 opens the door for other characters to show up. Sallah is the most likely with the game taking you to Egypt, but we could also see Short Round or a young Harold Oxley. And of course, Marion Ravenwood.

MachineGames

Indiana and Marion are together at the end of Raiders but are split up by the time the Last Crusade kicks off, with her revealing in the Crystal Skull that Indy called off the wedding a week before.

In 1937, Marion should be pregnant with Mutt (played by Shia LeBeouf) but whether the couple is still together remains to be seen. They might have only just split up, or perhaps they’re still together but whatever happens in the game leads to Indy calling it off. She’s at least mentioned though, as his journal (also included in the Collector’s Edition) is signed, “for your next adventure, Marion.”

This will also be the year before he reconnects with his father in The Last Crusade, so we might get a bit more insight into this relationship before Indy sets off to find him a year later.

Indiana Jones timeline

• 1912: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (prologue)
• 1935: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
• 1936: Raiders of the Lost Ark
• 1937: Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
• 1938: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
• 1944: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (prologue)
• 1951: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (flashback)
• 1957-1961: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
• 1969: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

For simplicity, we’ve not included The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles in the timeline above. This TV show takes place in the years before the Temple of Doom, covering his adolescent adventures from 1908 to 1920, and its place in the canon is dubious.

Is the Great Circle canon?

It’s unclear if Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is canon as Lucasfilm Games’ Craig Derrick didn’t give a definite answer.

“It’s authentic to Indiana Jones,” he replied when asked by IGN. “It’s authentic to the stories that we’ve told. And again, to the point of between the two movies and how the story really connects those two movies. So it’s an authentically told story that I think fits really well in everything else you’ve experienced with Indiana Jones.”

That’s neither a yes nor a no, but it doesn’t sound like it can be considered official canon. But, it doesn’t sound like it will matter either. Much like the movies, this will be a standalone story – the only way the canon discussion would matter is if it makes any big changes to Indy’s backstory or character.

The devs seem conscious of this though, with MachineGames Design Director Jens Andersson saying in the same interview, “I don’t think we’re trying to change anything. We want to build on what’s there and enrich on it.”

For more on the latest Indiana Jones adventure, you can check out when it releases in your region and our hands-on preview that says “Indy is back and better than ever.”