The producer of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies has spoken out about the future of Johnny Depp’s role in the franchise, amid the actor’s ongoing defamation trial against Amber Heard.
Depp first appeared as Captain Jack Sparrow in 2003’s Curse of the Black Pearl, and went on to reprise the iconic role in four sequels – Dead Man's Chest, At World's End, On Stranger Tides and Dead Men Tell No Tales.
However, it seems he may not reappear as the character in any sequels that are in the pipeline, according to Jerry Bruckheimer, producer not only of the hugely successful Pirates of the Caribbean films, but also countless other big-budget Hollywood titles like Top Gun, Bad Boys and Armageddon.
In an interview with The Times ahead of the release of Top Gun: Maverick, Bruckheimer confirmed two Pirates scripts were still in the works.
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When asked if Depp would be back, Bruckheimer replied: “Not at this point.
“The future is yet to be decided.”
However, the producer did reveal another A-list name may appear in one of the sequels.
Speaking about the prospect of a sequel with a female lead, he said: “We’re talking to Margot Robbie.
“We are developing two Pirates scripts – one with her, one without.”
The news echoes similar comments made by Bruckheimer in the past, having told Collider in 2020 there was some uncertainty around Depp's involvement.
He said: "We’re working on a draft right now and hopefully we’ll get it shortly and give it to Disney and hopefully they’ll like it.
"We don’t know. We’ve been working on it for a little bit.”
When asked about Depp's participation, he said: "The one we’re developing right now, we’re not sure quite what Johnny’s role is going to be. So, we’re going to have to see.”
Depp is suing his ex-wife for defamation over a 2018 article published in The Washington Post, in which she claimed to have been a victim of domestic abuse.
While Heard didn't name Depp within the piece, he said it permanently damaged his professional reputation.
The actor was asked to resign from his role as Grindelwald in the third Fantastic Beasts film after losing his libel case against The Sun newspaper and executive editor Dan Wootton.
He was replaced by Mads Mikkelsen, who recently admitted taking over the role was 'chaotic'.
Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter about landing the part, he said he was given just two days to decide if he wanted to take it and so quickly watched the first two Fantastic Beasts films to get an idea of what he was letting himself in for.
He told the publication: “It was quite chaotic.”
Mikkelson felt the job was too good to turn down after reading the script and finding it to be a ‘great story’.
Opening up about taking on the role, he added: “You don’t want to copy anything [Depp was] doing – that would be creative suicide. Even if [a role has] been done to perfection, you want to make it your own. But you still have to build some sort of bridge between what came before.”
Topics: Johnny Depp, Celebrity, TV and Film
Jess Hardiman