The Pirates of the Caribbean series producer has confirmed that the new movie will be a reboot rather than a continuation of the franchise so far.
A new installment of the beloved Pirates movie has been in the works since 2011. However, the project stalled after Johnny Depp was removed amid his highly publicized defamation case against his former wife Amber Heard.
During the pair's legal battle, which concluded in June 2022 after the jury unanimously sided with Depp, the 60-year-old actor shut down any involvement with the franchise despite speculations that Disney was trying to get him to reprise the role.
He was asked: "If Disney came to you with $300 million and a million alpacas, nothing on this earth would get you to go back and work with Disney on a Pirates of the Caribbean film?" To which, he simply replied: "That is true."
Last year, Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production president Sean Bailey revealed that after a period of uncertainty, the franchise's movie series will be continuing.
He stated that the new movies are a priority for the company, telling The New York Times: "We think we have a really good, exciting story that honors the films that have come before but also has something new to say."
Now, it has been confirmed by producer Jerry Bruckheimer himself that Pirates of The Caribbean will be getting a "reboot" with the long-in-development sixth movie.
"You don't know, you really don't know," Bruckheimer told ComicBook.com. "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."
The new movie will be the first new entry in the series since 2017's Dead Men Tell No Tales.
There have been rumors of a female-led Pirates movie starring Margot Robbie, who would take on the role of Jake Sparrow.
The 33-year-old Barbie star spoke to Vanity Fair, about the speculations and revealed: "We had an idea and we were developing it for a while, ages ago, to have more of a female-led – not totally female-led – but just a different kind of story which we thought would’ve been really cool." She then added: "But I guess they don't want to do it," potentially referring to Disney.
In a separate follow-up interview, producer Bruckheimer insisted the film would still be made, telling The Sun: "It’s alive for me. It’s alive for Disney. I’m sure she was disappointed it didn’t go first, or maybe not because she’s very busy, so it might be a blessing to push this a bit. We believe we’ll get it made. It’s a very strong story."
Another name that was thrown into the mix was Ayo Edebiri, with outlets such as News.com.au claiming that the studio wants her to take on the role of Sparrow in the upcoming installment.
They said that The Bear actress has been pitched to play a character named Anne, who is said to be based on real-life pirate Anne Bonny, however, nothing has been confirmed.
As of yet, no casting announcements have been made, nor do we know who might direct the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean movie.
