Pirates of the Caribbean Producer Addresses Possible Johnny Depp Return

The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise is a major staple at The Walt Disney Company, but fans haven't been given a new installment since 2017's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, and while there has been a lot of speculation about what the future holds for the series, producer Jerry Bruckheimer recently expressed that he is taking "baby steps" towards the next installment, which could include Johnny Depp's return as Jack Sparrow. The filmmaker was sure to say that the goal wasn't necessarily to bring back Depp, more that progress is seemingly being made towards a final screenplay, which is sure to dictate what a new film will explore.

When asked by AP Entertainment about Depp's possible return, Bruckheimer shared, "We're still working on it. Nothing's definitive yet, but we continue to take little baby steps getting towards a screenplay."

Following the release of Dead Men Tell No Tales, the franchise began to stagnate, as it was the lowest box-office earner outside of the original film and has the lowest Rotten Tomatoes score of the entire franchise. In 2020, reports emerged that the series would be revived with a new film featuring more female characters, which would have seen Margot Robbie as the lead figure. Between Bruckheimer and Robbie, there have been conflicting reports about the status of that project.

In November, Robbie shared with Vanity Fair, "We had an idea and we were developing it for a while, ages ago, to have more of a female-led—not totally female-led, but just a different kind of story—which we thought would've been really cool, but I guess they don't want to do it."

In response to these remarks, Bruckheimer more recently shared with Collider, "I think that that script will come forward at a certain point. We developed two different stories for Pirates and the other one's going forward first, so that's what we're working on, to try to get that one made."

Whatever the future might hold for the franchise, it sounds as though it's too early to know what the next film could explore and who would star in it, though the producer is seemingly committed to exploring various avenues for the foreseeable future.

Stay tuned for updates on the future of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.

What would you like to see next for the series? Let us know in the comments below!