Report: Margot Robbie To Headline “Female-Fronted” Pirates of the Caribbean Movie

John F. Trent |

Jun 26, 2020

A new report details that Harley Quinn actress Margot Robbie will headline a new “female-fronted” Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

The report comes from The Hollywood Reporter who detail, “Margot Robbie is setting sail with help from her Birds of Prey writer Christina Hodson.”

They add, “Hodson has been tapped to write a new, female-fronted Pirates of the Caribbean for Disney, with Robbie attached to star.”

While their report indicates they will be taking on the Pirates of the Caribbean brand name, the movie will not be a spinoff of the first five Pirates of the Caribbean movies that starred Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow.

THR explains it will be “a wholly original story with new characters under the Pirates moniker.”

Not only will this be a new film with new characters, but it is also separate from the previously announced Pirates of the Caribbean reboot.

Back in 2018 just after Aquaman actress Amber Heard wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post implying that Johnny Depp was an abuser, Disney announced they were moving forward without him in a reboot of the Pirates franchise. That op-ed is now at the center of a $50 million defamation lawsuit brought by Depp against Heard.

Sean Bailey, Disney’s film production chief, was asked if Pirates could survive without Johnny Depp.

He answered, “We want to bring in a new energy and vitality. I love the [Pirates] movies, but part of the reason Paul and Rhett are so interesting is that we want to give it a kick in the pants. And that’s what I’ve tasked them with.”

However, the project didn’t get off the ground with Deadpool writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick who Bailey had originally tapped to reboot the franchise.

Deadline reported in February 2019, just a couple months after Bailey’s original comments that Reese and Wernick were off the project.

While Wernick and Reese are no longer attached to the project, long-time Pirates of the Caribbean scribe Ted Elliott and Chenrobyl creator Craig Mazin are now attached to it and according to THR are “developing the story.”

In fact, when Elliot and Mazin were announced as the new creatives behind the Pirates reboot, THR left the door open that Johnny Depp could return to the rule. They reported, “it is unclear at this stage if Sparrow would return as a character or if Depp would return as actor.”

As for a female-fronted Pirates of the Caribbean film, there have been rumors for quite some time that one was in the works. Back in October 2017, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales star Kaya Scodelario even advocated for a film with an “all-female pirate crew.”

She stated, “Well, when I signed up for the first one, I signed up for two movies. So I am contractually obliged, but I’d love to [do it].”

“I think there’s a lot we can still do. I’d like see a Carina who takes the helm of Barbossa on the sea – have her own all-female pirate crew,” Scodelario concluded.

More recently there was a rumor in May that indicated Disney was eyeing Jumanji and Avengers: Endgame star Karen Gillan to lead a rebooted Pirates of the Caribbean film.

What do you make of this report are you interested in seeing Birds of Prey’s Hodson and Robbie reunite for a “female-fronted” Pirates of the Caribbean movie?