Producer Jerry Bruckheimer has seemingly confirmed Pirates of the Caribbean 6. While talking to Comicbook.com about the success of Top Gun: Maverick, Bruckheimer revealed that Pirates of the Caribbean 6 is happening, with Ted Elliott, the veteran screenwriter behind Aladdin and Shrek, penning the script. Elliott, along with Terry Rossio, also wrote the first four movies of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Here’s what Bruckheimer said:
"I'm very excited, it's going to be terrific. We’re just putting this together right now. We're still working on the screenplay, but it’s very unique and has one of the original writers who wrote the first one, Ted Elliott; he’s writing it. He’s got a great command of the language, and he writes great characters and tells terrific stories."
After the colossal success of Top Gun: Maverick, Bruckheimer seems to have jumped on the legacy sequel bandwagon as he also gave promising updates on National Treasure 3 and Beverly Hills Cop 4, which begins production this month. Bruckheimer is planning to bring Nicolas Cage back for National Treasure 3 as well, but Cage’s reluctance to join mainstream movies could complicate the matter. Bad Boys 4 is also moving forward, though it will be a few years before the film goes into production due to the Will Smith slapgate scandal.
Johnny Depp Could Return In Pirates Of The Caribbean 6, But It’s A Long Shot
Johnny Depp’s Pirates of the Caribbean return could be in the cards if Bruckheimer is planning a direct sequel. He confirmed a few months back that two Pirates of the Caribbean movies were in development, one starring Margot Robbie and one without her. Christina Hodson (Birds of Prey, The Flash) is reportedly writing Robbie’s female-led spinoff, and Ted Elliott could be working on the other one, considering his franchise experience.
However, it’s possible that Bruckheimer and Elliott are working on Robbie’s movie only since Johnny Depp has made it clear that he has no intention of ever returning to the franchise. And a Pirates of the Caribbean movie, without Depp as Jack Sparrow or without the character at all, doesn’t make sense, nor would it play well with fans.
Johnny Depp, on the other hand, is devastated that he never got a chance to bid goodbye to the beloved franchise. He feels betrayed by Disney and wouldn’t work with the studio again even if they came to him with $300 million and a million alpacas, as he swore in his defamation trial against Amber Heard. And he has every right to be angry since Disney fired him without allowing him to make his case but continued to profit off his name.
"They didn’t remove my character from the rides. They didn’t stop selling dolls of Captain Jack Sparrow. They didn’t stop selling anything. They just didn’t want there to be something trailing behind me that they’d find."
Depp’s reps have also squashed recent rumors of his return, so unless the ongoing fan petition really makes some headway, we’ll have to assume that Robbie will be the new face of the franchise. But one thing is for certain, a sixth swashbuckling adventure in the Pirates of the Caribbean series is happening, but there’s no word if it’ll be a spinoff, reboot, or a sequel.