Johnny Depp May Be Returning to Pirates of the Caribbean, as Disney U-Turns

Pirates of the Caribbean means Captain Jack Sparrow and Captain Jack Sparrow means Johnny Depp.

There's no way around it and there never has been: a new Pirates of the Caribbean movie without the actor would've flopped massively, but Disney 's been playing utter ignorance about this for a few years now.

Immediately after his ex-wife filed a lawsuit against Johnny Depp, Disney cut him off and made the one and only Jack Sparrow walk the plank.

The Disney officials claimed they would launch a complete reboot of the franchise without the actor, too. But now, since Johnny's cleared of charges, Disney wants its Jack back on board.

There wasn't any statement about this, though the situation becomes utterly clear if we compare what Disney representatives were saying in 2018 with what they're saying in this regard now. Take a look yourself.

Back in 2018, the film production chief Sean Bailey addressed the question of whether the reboot was going to leave Johnny Depp behind by giving a rather vague yet definitive answer: there will be new people there, not good old Johnny.

"We want to bring in a new energy and vitality. I love the movies, but part of the reason Paul and Rhett are so interesting is that we want to give it a kick in the pants. And that's what I've tasked them with," said Bailey.

But now, the tables have turned.

Yesterday, while speaking with The New York Times, the reporter asked Sean whether Johnny Depp was coming back to Pirates of the Caribbean.

Would you guess how the official stance has changed? "Noncommittal at this point," replied Bailey.

This is not just another default bureaucratic answer; this is huge. Disney's been publicly severing its ties to Johnny Depp until the very end of the court sessions, and the officials were not hiding the fact that they wouldn't bring the actor back.

Most likely, the "noncommittal" here stands for "we want to and we're trying to make that happen but we're not sure if we can right our wrongs without looking terrible."

This is no promise for Jack Sparrow's return, but it's an enormous improvement.

Now, we'd bet Disney will try to buy Johnny's favor back: after all, this man is money, and the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise with him in the lead is even more money.

It's only a matter of whether Johnny Depp will want to work with Disney after all this.

Source: The New York Times