Johnny Depp Is Reportedly Coming Back to ‘Pirates of the Caribbean,’ But This Time, He Won’t Be Running the Ship
Few franchises have been stuck in development limbo quite like ‘Pirates of the Caribbean.‘ Nearly a decade has passed since ‘Dead Men Tell No Tales’ hit theaters in 2017, and in that time, fans have watched rumor after rumor swirl around a sixth installment that never quite materialized.
At the center of that uncertainty has always been one question: would Johnny Depp ever slip back into Captain Jack Sparrow’s boots? The actor’s exit from the franchise amid his highly publicized legal battles left the character’s future murky, even as Disney kept insisting a new film was still coming.
That uncertainty finally started to lift this weekend. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer confirmed at D23 that talks with Depp are officially underway, offering the clearest update on the character’s fate in years.
“We’re talking with Johnny [Depp], we’re working on a screenplay, and hopefully we can get this done,” Bruckheimer told Deadline following the panel.
But the bigger twist buried in that update isn’t just that Depp may return. It’s the shape his return would reportedly take.
According to Deadline’s sources, the new film “won’t feel like just the nth tale of Captain Jack Sparrow.” Instead, the next chapter is said to center on a new protagonist played by Margot Robbie, with Sparrow reduced to a side character. In other words, the character who’s carried all five previous ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ films may finally be handing off the wheel.
Robbie’s connection to the franchise isn’t new. She was first attached to a ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ spinoff project back in 2020, and Bruckheimer has reaffirmed her involvement multiple times since, even as the broader plans around the film shifted and stalled.
What’s changed now is the framing. Rather than a separate spinoff, the reported plan folds Robbie’s character into the main sequel as the lead, with Depp’s Sparrow woven in as a supporting presence rather than the anchor of the story.
For a franchise built almost entirely around one iconic performance, that’s a significant departure. Depp first brought Jack Sparrow to life in 2003’s ‘Curse of the Black Pearl’ and carried the character through ‘Dead Man’s Chest’ in 2006, ‘At World’s End’ in 2007, ‘On Stranger Tides’ in 2011, and ‘Dead Men Tell No Tales’ in 2017.
Across those five films, ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ has grossed roughly 4.5 billion dollars worldwide, cementing itself as one of Disney’s most lucrative live-action franchises. Still, momentum had cooled by the time ‘Dead Men Tell No Tales’ arrived, closing out its run as the lowest-grossing entry in the series at around 795.9 million dollars.
That box office dip is part of why Disney appears eager to widen the story beyond Sparrow alone, using Robbie to usher in a new era while still giving longtime fans the nostalgia of Depp’s presence. Whether audiences embrace that trade-off is far from settled.
Early reactions online have already been mixed, with some fans framing the move as a natural evolution and others bristling at the idea of Sparrow taking a backseat in his own franchise. Given how central Depp’s performance has been to the series’ identity, that tension is unlikely to fade before the film reaches theaters.
No official casting announcement or script details have been confirmed by Disney at this stage, and Bruckheimer’s comments suggest the project is still very much in motion. For now, the plan appears to be Robbie in the captain’s chair, with Sparrow along for the ride.
What do you think about Jack Sparrow stepping into a supporting role?
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