Pirates of the Caribbean: Disney Exec Says Revival Is a Priority, Addresses Possible Johnny Depp Return

Disney is working on reviving The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, according to a Disney executive.

Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production president Sean Bailey said in an interview with The New York Times that rebooting Pirates of the Caribbean is a priority for the company on top of reworking many of its animated classics into live-action retellings, the latest one being The Little Mermaid.

“We think we have a really good, exciting story that honors the films that have come before but also has something new to say,” Bailey said. However, when it comes to getting Johnny Depp to step back into the role of Captain Jack Sparrow and helm the Black Pearl once more, he said he’s “noncommittal at this point.”

Last year, it was reported that Depp walked the plank off Pirates of the Caribbean with no intentions of coming back. The actor was embroiled in a $100 million defamation lawsuit over an op-ed his ex-wife Amber Heard wrote in The Washington Post about the domestic violence that allegedly occurred during their relationship, which he won. While being cross-examined during the trial, Depp admitted that Disney dropped him from Pirates of the Caribbean six days after the op-ed was published. He went so far as to say that “nothing on this earth” would get him to reprise his role as Jack Sparrow for Disney.

Jerry Bruckheimer, a longtime producer of the Pirates of the Caribbean films, said that Depp wasn’t attached to the sixth film and its sequel, but his absence from the franchise remains uncertain. “The future is yet to be decided,” he said at the time.

It’s true that the Pirates franchise remains in flux; Bruckheimer previously said that Margot Robbie’s female-led spinoff isn’t entirely dead.

Cristina Alexander is a freelance writer for IGN. To paraphrase Calvin Harris, she wears her love for Sonic the Hedgehog on her sleeve like a big deal. Follow her on Twitter @SonicPrincess15.