What’s actually going on with Pirates of the Caribbean? For years, there have been rumors about various projects, including with Johnny Depp. Now we can apparently expect a complete reboot.
The Pirates of the Caribbean series is in tatters. It’s been seven (!) years since Captain Jack Sparrow’s last big-screen outing. By Hollywood standards, that’s an eternity. No studio would let a franchise lie fallow for so long if there wasn’t a lot of chaos behind the scenes. But here we are.
Is Pirates of the Caribbean 6 with Johnny Depp coming? Or a spin-off with Barbie star Margot Robbie in the lead role? In recent months, there have been numerous rumors about how the fantasy adventure cosmos could be expanded. Most recently, there was even talk of a new Pirates film starring Ayo Edebiri from The Bear.
Never again Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow? The next Pirates of the Caribbean movie will be a reboot
What’s the state of play now? That’s what Comic Book wanted to know from Jerry Bruckheimer, who has been involved in the series as a producer since the first installment. Comic Book also enquired about the next Top Gun film with Tom Cruise. Bruckheimer’s answer is unexpected.
Bruckheimer says:
[…] You never know how [the movies] are going to come together. You just don’t know. Because with Top Gun, you have an actor who is iconic and brilliant. And how many movies [Tom Cruise] does before Top Gun [3], I can’t say. But we’re going to reboot Pirates, and that’s easier to realize because you don’t have to wait for certain actors.
(Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean)
Bruckheimer’s last sentence contains two surprising pieces of information. Firstly: The next Pirates of the Caribbean film will be a reboot. And secondly: apparently the series is not (or no longer?) dependent on a star in his eyes. That’s definitely an exciting statement. Because until now, Pirates of the Caribbean had one clear star: Johnny Depp.
After years in development hell, Pirates of the Caribbean is apparently ready to let go of the past
Depp’s involvement in further Pirates films has been hanging in the balance for years due to various controversies. However, the fact that Bruckheimer is now saying that Pirates of the Caribbean could do “without certain actors” was not foreseeable in the past. Until now, the series had focused on Depp’s Jack Sparrow, while other characters such as Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) and Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) rotated.
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Bruckheimer’s statement tells us a lot about Depp’s current status in Hollywood. Top Gun 3 without Tom Cruise is unthinkable. Pirates of the Caribbean, on the other hand, seems to have reached a point where the franchise can reinvent itself. After years in development hell, a reboot seems like a long overdue stroke of freedom
