Johnny Depp may not be done as Captain Jack Sparrow, after all.
The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise has served as a $4.5 billion money-maker for The Walt Disney Company. The franchise, which has five total movies, has all starred Johnny Depp as the lead protagonist, alongside others like Keira Knightley (Elizabeth Swann Turner) and Orlando Bloom (Will Turner). The last film, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, was released in 2017, and a lot has happened since then.
Disney reportedly turned its back on Johnny Depp amid allegations from his ex-wife Amber Heard saying that the actor had physically and emotionally abused her. The ex-couple underwent two different defamation trials, one in the U.K. and then one in the United States. The defamation trial in the United States concluded last summer and resulted in a resounding victory for Mr Depp over Ms Heard. Though Amber Heard vowed to appeal the decision, she eventually settled with Johnny Depp outside of court, paying the actor $1 million this past December.
Some fans have held out hope that Johnny Depp would return to the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, but the actor revealed during the defamation trial that he wouldn’t return to Disney “for $300 million,” and he has since moved to Europe and is exploring both his music and acting career overseas, with a new movie titled Jeanne Du Barry that was just released at the Cannes Film Festival a couple of weeks ago.
Of course, the elephant in the room has been the question of a reunion. Even though neither side has come out and said that they want to reunite, they both understand that fans want to see it happen. Johnny Depp has made appearances for select fans using his Captain Jack Sparrow persona, but there’s a big difference between bringing out the character every now and then, and actually returning to Disney for a movie.
Disney has finally broken the silence on what we could expect in the future for Pirates of the Caribbean 6, including Johnny Depp’s status.
In an interview with the New York Times, Disney Studios Motion Picture Production President Sean Bailey shared that they are excited about the next stages of the franchise.
“We think we have a really good, exciting story that honors the films that have come before but also has something new to say,” he said.
When asked about the status of Johnny Depp for the film, Bailey said that Disney was “noncommittal at this point.”
This is an interesting phrase from Disney, to say the least. The comments do not close the door on a potential return, but they also don’t point to anything guaranteed at this point. Pirates of the Caribbean Producer Jerry Bruckheimer shared in the past that Disney had developed two scripts, neither of which would likely involve Johnny Depp, but that’s to say that the story couldn’t be adjusted or changed, if the two parties were to come to an agreement in the future.
