Johnny Depp is in talks to return as Captain Jack Sparrow. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer said at D23 on Sunday that “we’re talking with Johnny” about Pirates of the Caribbean 6, that a screenplay is in the works, and that he hopes the team can get it done. It is the clearest signal yet that Depp could come back to the franchise after nearly a decade away.
The Timing Was Not An Accident
Bruckheimer made the comments after his own tribute at the Disney Legends Ceremony, where he was inducted for a producing career that includes steering all five Pirates films. He stopped short of saying a deal exists, and representatives for Depp, Bruckheimer and Disney have not commented. But the producer has spent years publicly keeping the door open, saying as far back as last year that he believed Depp would return if he responded to the material. Sunday moved that from hypothetical to active negotiation, spoken on the record at Disney’s own fan event during D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event.
Sparrow May Not Be The Lead This Time
Sources describe the next chapter as centering on a new protagonist played by Margot Robbie, with Sparrow in a supporting role rather than carrying the film. A Robbie led Pirates project was first unveiled back in 2020 and was reported scrapped in 2022, with Bruckheimer saying at the time that two scripts were in development, one with her and one without. If the current plan holds, the franchise would return as an evolution rather than a straight continuation, with Depp’s character passing through the story instead of steering it.
A Franchise Worth 4.5 Billion Dollars Has Been Idle Since 2017
The five Pirates of the Caribbean films have grossed 4.5 billion dollars worldwide, built on Depp’s performance in 2003’s The Curse of the Black Pearl, which earned him his first Best Actor Oscar nomination and turned a theme park ride into one of Disney’s biggest live action franchises. The series has been dormant since 2017’s Dead Men Tell No Tales, the lowest grossing entry at 795.9 million dollars. Depp has not appeared as Sparrow since, and Disney’s relationship with the actor cooled during his highly public legal battles, which makes an on the record confirmation of talks at a Disney event notable on its own.
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