Johnny Depp has not been ruled out of the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie, one of its creators says.
Depp has spoken about his tumultuous relationship with the franchise amid his $50 million defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard. He is attempting to sue the Aquaman star after Heard referred to herself as a "public figure representing domestic abuse" in a 2018 op-ed she wrote for The Washington Post.
The Pirates of the Caribbean star has denied any allegations that he was physically violent toward his ex-wife.
Nevertheless, Depp says he learned Disney would not be recasting him as the iconic Captain Jack Sparrow for any future movies in the Pirates franchise.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter back in 2018, president of the production at Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Sean Bailey was asked if the franchise could survive without Depp. Bailey responded:
"We want to bring in a new energy and vitality. I love the [Pirates] movies, but part of the reason Paul [Wernick] and Rhett [Reese] are so interesting is that we want to give it a kick in the pants. And that’s what I’ve tasked them with."
Now, producer Jerry Bruckheimer has spoken to The Times about his upcoming projects - and commented on the future of Pirates of the Caribbean.
Bruckheimer has worked with Depp on all five PotC movies, ever since their inception in 2003.
When asked if Depp is planned to be a part of any future movies in the series, he responded: "Not at this point". However, Bruckheimer did provide a glimmer of hope for fans by adding: "The future is yet to be decided."
The famed Hollywood producer added that officials are currently "in talks" with Margot Robbie.
"We are developing two Pirates scripts - one with [Robbie], one without," he said.
Although, if Disney were to reach out to Depp to once again return to the franchise, he has made it clear in his recent testimonies that he would never return as Captain Jack.
He said that even if Disney offered him "$300 million and a million alpacas," he wouldn't work with the movie studio again.
Further explaining how he felt betrayed by franchise officials, Depp said: "Having added much of myself, much of my own rewriting, the dialogue, the scenes, the jokes, I didn't quite understand how after that long relationship and quite a successful relationship with Disney that… suddenly I was guilty until proven innocent."
But that hasn't stopped Pirates fans from rallying a potential Depp return, with a two-year-old Change.org petition addressed to The Walt Disney Company once again gaining traction amid the high-profile defamation case.
The petition's description reads: "Johnny Depp deserves his life back the way it was before Amber Heard came along."
Addressing Disney execs, it adds: "Please have a change of heart and do not release that movie without Johnny Depp. Yes, you may be saving money without him, but nobody in this world cares about that movie if it does not have him in it. Reconsider your decision!!"
The petition has since amassed over 670,000 signatures.
During his testimony last month, Depp expressed his concern that Sparrow - along with other characters in the franchise - never received their "proper goodbye".
"My feeling was that these characters should be able to have their proper goodbye," he said, before adding: "I thought that the characters deserved to have their way out of… to end the franchise on a very good note. And I planned on continuing until it was time to stop."
The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise has amassed $4.5 billion at the global box since 2003, per Reuters.
