The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise has been one of Disney’s few live-action franchise hits that hasn’t included the words Marvel or Star Wars. And so, it’s little surprise that there is interest inside the studio in continuing the series of films. However, when and if those movies come, they are likely to be something very different as the one thing that we know about them is that they will not include Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow.
There are reportedly a couple different Pirates movies in development right now, but the one thing they both have in common is that they don’t include Johnny Depp’s iconic character. It’s clear that the franchise is moving on, but one Pirates of the Caribbean co-star, Kevin McNally, who played Mr. Gibbs throughout the franchise, doesn’t see any reason Johnny Depp can’t return to the franchise. He spoke with Express, saying…
I’ve never seen a hint of any dark side to Johnny. I see a great humanitarian and a beautiful human being. I don’t see any impediment for him coming back and playing Jack Sparrow.
The fact that Johnny Depp is apparently done playing Jack Sparrow is actually the subject of a lawsuit. Depp’s defamation suit against Amber Heard is based on the belief that her 2018 Washington Post op-ed, where she spoke out about being a survivor of domestic abuse, directly led to Disney’s decision to reboot the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise without Depp. Heard never mentions the actor by name in the column.
While the allegation of abuse is being tied to Disney’s decision to move on with the franchise, that’s never been specifically addressed by the studio. Clearly, Kevin McNally is quite supportive of both Johnny Depp the man and Jack Sparrow the character. He feels that since he had never seen a “dark side” to Depp, there’s no reason not to include him in the future of the franchise.
For what it’s worth, Kevin McNally isn’t against the idea of more Pirates of the Caribbean movie, that don’t star Johnny Depp. However, he does clearly feel Jack Sparrow is what made the movies successful, and so he thinks that even if the decision has been made not to focus on that character, they should still find ways to include him. McNally continues…
I think there was a general feeling that without Jack there is no Pirates franchise. And there’s probably a lot of truth in that. But now there have been questions about that, certainly why not have other Pirate films and certainly then why not have Jack back or Jack playing a different part I mean I was musing about this the other day and you can easily think of stories in which maybe somebody is looking for Jack and come to Mr Gibbs and say, ‘How would I find Jack?’
Last we heard there were two different Pirates of the Caribbean projects in development. One has Margot Robbie attached and is being written by Birds of Prey screenwriter Christina Hodson. Another film is being written by the duo of Ted Elliot and Craig Mazin. Both of those movies have been silent for some time, so it’s unclear if either one is still active.