In what, if true, would turn out to be a serious case of Monkey’s Paw wish fulfillment for many fans, a new rumor suggests that while Disney has finally opened themselves up to having Johnny Depp reprise his Pirates of the Caribbean role as Captain Jack Sparrow, they want him to do so not as the lead in his own adventure, but as a side character in the franchise’s upcoming, female-led entry.
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This message in a bottle was first hurled into the social media seas on February 8th courtesy of noted entertainment scooper MyTimeToShineHello.
Taking to their personal Twitter account in light of the recent rumor that the film was both still in development and looking to tap The Bear star Ayo Edebiri as one of its leads, the scooper revealed that after having “looked into it”, they were able to not only confirm that the film was actively being worked on, but also several significant details about its current direction.
“Pirates of the Caribbean 6 [working title] will be set in part in Hiaiti and the female protagonist will be Haitian,” they alleged. “Also, they do want Johnny Depp to come back just not as the lead.”
After having spent roughly twelve-years and five films defining the character as one of cinema’s most endearing icons, Depp was let go from the role of Captain Jack Sparrow in 2018 after he was accused of domestic and sexual abuse by his ex-wife Amber Heard – accusations he countered with a full-blown defamation lawsuit from which he eventually emerged both victorious and vindicated in his innocence.
Speaking to his firing during the resulting trial, Depp asserted, “Two years had gone by of constant worldwide talk about me being this wife beater. So I’m sure that Disney was trying to cut ties to be safe. The #MeToo movement was in full swing at that point.”
“They didn’t remove my character from the rides,” he added. “They didn’t stop selling dolls of Captain Jack Sparrow. They didn’t stop selling anything. They just didn’t want there to be something trailing behind me that they’d find.”
However, while Disney has remained publicly “noncommittal” to his franchise return following his legal win, Depp himself has admitted to having no interest in any further Pirates of the Caribbean appearances.
Asked by Heard’s attorney, Ben Rottenborn, during the same trial, “The fact is, Mr. Depp, if Disney came to you with $300 million and a million alpacas, nothing on this earth would get you to go back and work with Disney on a Pirates of the Caribbean film, correct?”, Depp explicitly confirmed, “That is true, Mr. Rottenborn.”
Notably, while the House of Mouse remains publicly mum on the subject of Depp’s possible return, the same can not be said of the franchise’s long-time producer, Jerry Bruckheimer.
Pressed during a December 2022 interview with The Hollywood Reporter as to whether fans might see Captain Jack sail the seas once more, Bruckheimer replied, “You’d have to ask them. I can’t answer that question. I really don’t know. I would love to have him in the movie. He’s a friend, a terrific actor and it’s unfortunate that personal lives creep into everything we do.”