While Johnny Depp was the face of Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean franchise for its first five films, the studio has revealed it’s now working on the next installment with Margot Robbie as the lead and Depp nowhere in sight.
- The last Pirates film didn’t do all that well. While Dead Men Tell No Tales did bring in nearly $800 million at the box office, it has only a 30% Rotten Tomatoes rating and was generally seen as being far worse than any of the other films in the franchise. Further stories that Depp routinely turned up late to set and was extremely difficult to work with left his role in any future films up in the air and his ongoing legal battles with ex Amber Heard as well as the assault allegations against him pretty much sealed his fate of being excluded from further outings.
- Two Pirates projects have been up in the air for a while. One of those scripts is a completely new story with Margot Robbie at the helm. The other seems to be the next installment in the Pirates franchise fans know and love. Jerry Bruckheimer confirmed in an interview with The Times that both projects are still in the works and will hopefully be released. “Yes. We’re talking to Margot Robbie. We are developing two Pirates scripts – one with her, one without,” he said.
- So will Depp ever come back to the franchise? According to Bruckheimer: “Not at this point. The future is yet to be decided.” During his defamation trial against Heard, Depp recently claimed that he wouldn’t return to Pirates even if he was offered $300 million, though this was likely a deflection from the fact that he wasn’t invited back.
- If these projects ever come to be, it could be a while. The scripts have been in development since 2020 and no deals have been made, so even if the new Pirates stories do come to light, it could be a very long wait.
