The rumors were true. The tides have turned over at Disney, and it looks like Jack Sparrow might have one more voyage left in him.
Producer Jerry Bruckheimer, long a champion of Johnny Depp’s return to “Pirates of the Caribbean,” is telling Entertainment Weekly that the actor is open to reprising the role for a sixth film — provided he likes the script.
This is no small shift. Disney famously cut ties with Depp in 2018 after Amber Heard’s Washington Post op-ed, and during the pair’s 2022 defamation trial, Depp swore he wouldn’t come back “for $300 million and a million alpacas.” Still, time (and perhaps the right screenplay) may be softening that stance.
Bruckheimer says the new Pirates entry will be a reboot, but that l Sparrow would be part of the story. “It’s all about what’s on the page,” he said, adding that the script, currently by Jeff Nathanson after work by Craig Mazin and Ted Elliot, has “an amazing third act” and is “close” to being finished.
The last time Depp played Sparrow was in 2017’s ‘Dead Men Tell No Tales.’ Since then, he ‘s been relegated to starring in low-budget films such as “The Professor,” “City of Lies,” “Waiting for the Barbarians,” and “Minamata.” Depp’s most recent project, “Modi,” which he directed and world premiered at the San Sebastian Film Festival last year, still doesn’t have U.S. didtribution.
Reflecting on the fallout from the Amber Heard saga, Depp recently told The Sunday Times that he saw himself as a “crash test dummy for #MeToo.”
Call it the ultimate comeback for an actor who, not long ago, seemed completely canceled. Now, what I really want to see is Depp reuniting with his good friend Tim Burton — a director who’s consistently gotten the best out of him, from “Ed Wood” to “Edward Scissorhands” to “Sleepy Hollow.”
It’s now been 13 years since "The Grandmaster,” and it doesn’t sound like Wong Kar-wai will be making another film in the near future. His future seems to be on the small screen.