Pirates of the Caribbean Producer Confirms Next Movie Will Be a “Reboot”

It’s been nearly seven years since the last Pirates of the Caribbean movie was released in theaters, and Disney is still looking for a way to navigate new waters for the smash hit franchise. There have reportedly been a lot of ideas about the future of the franchise, including a film with Margot Robbie in the lead role and a plan that involves getting Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow back into the mix. As it stands now, however, it appears the franchise is going with a total reboot, starting fresh with new ideas and new characters.

ComicBook.com recently spoke to legendary producer Jerry Bruckheimer about his new film The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, and we asked about the future of a couple of his hit franchises: Top Gun and Pirates of the Caribbean. Bruckheimer pondered which of the two may return to the big screen first, and in doing so mentioned that Pirates is hitting the reset button.

“It’s hard to tell. You don’t know, you really don’t know,” Bruckheimer began. “You don’t know how they come together. You just don’t know. Because with Top Gun you have an actor who is iconic and brilliant. And how many movies he does before he does Top Gun, I can’t tell you. But we’re gonna reboot Pirates, so that is easier to put together because you don’t have to wait for certain actors.”

Of course, with Top Gun, Bruckheimer is referring to Tom Cruise. The iconic action star has multiple films lined up for the future, including a direct sequel to Top Gun: Maverick. So the production will likely be at the mercy of Cruise’s schedule. For Pirates, all bets are off, as the team at Disney appears to be starting from scratch.

It’ll be interesting to see exactly what direction that fresh start takes. A film starring Margot Robbie can’t be completely ruled out just yet, though that probably got a lot more challenging in the wake of Barbie‘s massive success. What we can assume, though, is that the new movie will be taking some big swings.

The Last of Us creator Craig Mazin worked on a story for the new Pirates alongside original screenwriter Ted Elliot. Things got put on hold because of the strikes last year, but Mazin told the that their script was very weird and that Disney seemed to like it.

“We pitched it and thought there’s no way they’re buying it, it’s too weird. And they did! And then we wrote a fantastic script and the strike happened and everyone’s waiting around,” Mazin explained.

What do you want to see from the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie? Let us know in the comments!