Johnny Depp’s run as Captain Jack Sparrow in Disney’s popular Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise may have come to an end.
The British tabloid The Daily Mail spoke with screenwriter Stuart Beattie, who wrote the franchise’s initial installment, and asked him about the rumored reboot of the franchise and whether that would mean Depp’s departure. Beattie nodded and replied –
I think he’s had a great run. Obviously he’s made that character his own and it’s become the thing that he’s most famous for now. It’s been great for him and it’s been great for us. There’s that saying, ‘Don’t frown because it’s over, smile because it happened.’ The fact that they’re rebooting something that you did means that you did something that was worth rebooting. It’s an honour.
While not an outright declaration that Depp is out, Beattie’s use of the past tense certainly implies that it is. But this is a British tabloid reporting, so keep that grain of salt handy. Furthermore, Beattie’s involvement with the franchise is questionable as the last active involvement he has had with it was writing the original drafts of the first film. It is unclear as to how in the loop he still is with the producers about decisions being made for it.
Over the course of the franchise’s life, the Pirates films have brought in $4.5 billion to Disney. Critics and audiences both seemed receptive to the original trilogy, bu the two more recent follow ups have been met with diminishing praise and box office returns. Currently, Zombieland screenwriters Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese are rumored to be scripting a franchise reboot. If that is happening, it would make sense that Depp, and very much likely his character of Captain Jack Sparrow, would be out as part of the process.
Depp has been in the role of the besotted pirate captain for fifteen years and five films. It is hard to believe that he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his energetic performance in the first Pirates film The Curse Of The Black Pearl, when by the franchise’s most recent installment, 2017’s Dead Men Tell No Tales, his work seemed lazy and rote.
