Johnny Depp can put a dollar amount to what it cost him to lose his role in the Pirates of the Caribbean films as Captain Jack Sparrow. Currently, Depp and ex-wife Amber Heard are suing one another as each former spouse has accused the other of domestic abuse. According to Depp, he had been in talks with Disney about lining up his return in Pirates of the Caribbean 6 before Heard went public with what he says are false allegations against him.
As the trial goes on, Depp's talent manager, Jack Whigham, took the stand. He claimed that a verbal deal was set up with Disney chief Sean Bailey and producer Jerry Bruckheimer sometime around 2016 to bring back Depp for another Pirates of the Caribbean sequel. According to Whigham, Depp would have been paid $22.5 million for his return. Bailey was described as being "noncommittal" about the project after the op-ed made headlines, but while Bruckheimer was said to be more optimistic, everyone involved knew that Pirates of the Caribbean 6 was off the table shortly thereafter.
"It was trending badly in the late fall on behalf of Disney, but Jerry Bruckheimer and I were lobbying to make it happen. So we had hope. It became very clear in early 2019 that it was over," Whigham said, per Insider.
In his prior testimony, Depp said he learned of his dismissal from the franchise just days after Heard published an op-ed for The Washington Post describing herself as a victim of domestic violence. Whigham said that the op-ed had a "catastrophic" effect on Depp's career, which began with getting fired by Disney from his planned return in Pirates 6. He also described how Depp had been taking lower-paying roles in indie features since late 2018 with the higher-dollar offers seeming to dry up pretty quickly.
Johnny Depp Was Emotional About Losing the Role of Jack Sparrow
Johnny Depp explained on the stand that he felt "betrayed" by Disney cutting ties with him over unproven allegations. Because of how this made him feel, Depp also said that he couldn't see himself ever returning to Disney to work on Pirates of the Caribbean 6, even if the company were to offer him "$300 million and a million alpacas." The actor wanted to give the character a proper goodbye, but that's now no longer possible as that ship has sailed.
"My feeling was that these characters should be able to have their proper goodbye, as it were," Depp said in his testimony. "A franchise can only last for so long and there's a way to end a franchise like that and I thought that the characters deserved to have their way out, to end the franchise on a very good note. I planned on continuing until it was time to stop."
Many fans have been signing a petition for Disney to make Pirates of the Caribbean 6 with Depp returning as Captain Jack Sparrow, but it does not appear that it will happen anytime soon, if ever. The last update on the franchise was that Disney was looking to give it a reboot with Margot Robbie in the lead.