The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise has been pretty successful at the box office but its critical reception is a different story. The first film Curse of the Black Pearl is pretty good earning its star Johnny Depp an Oscar nomination for his turn as the iconic Captain Jack Sparrow. The actor returned to the role in the following installments which didn’t really manage to capture the same critical success of the first one declining in quality through the years with the latest film Dead Men Tell No Tales earning mostly negative reviews.
Not much is known about the future of the Pirates of the Caribbean series but there have been plans to reboot the franchise with Deadpool writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick on board. Depp himself has been a staple in the franchise but it seems like he wouldn’t be returning for the reboot.
Disney’s live-action film chief Sean Bailey spoke to THR about the studio’s upcoming non-animated films. The topic of the Pirates of the Caribbean reboot was brought up. For some time, it hasn’t been clear if Depp would be returning to the series but Bailey confirmed that Depp wouldn’t be part of the reboot when asked if Pirates could survive without the actor. He explained:
“We want to bring in a new energy and vitality. I love the [Pirates] movies, but part of the reason Paul and Rhett are so interesting is that we want to give it a kick in the pants. And that’s what I’ve tasked them with.”
This isn’t much of a surprise since Depp has been a contentious figure of late due to his personal scandals including allegations of domestic abuse from his ex-wife Amber Heard. It seems like a big risk to attach Depp to a project these days as Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of the Grindelwald‘s box-office numbers aren’t as big as it should be. The people at Disney could just be done with Jack Sparrow story-lines but let’s be honest, it’s probably just Depp himself. It’s unsure how the Pirates of the Caribbean reboot would fare without him but perhaps a change is needed.
Source: THR
