Pirates Of The Caribbean 6’s Major Jack Sparrow Change Reportedly Revealed
Pirates of the Caribbean may be coming back for its next installment soon, but things won't look quite the same at sea.
Pirates of the Caribbean originally set sail in 2003 with The Curse of the Black Pearl. Fans have now been waiting for nearly a decade for the next installment, after Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales came out in 2017. Pirates of the Caribbean 6 started being planned initially back in 2018, but has been in development hell since. Margot Robbie was attached to the project in 2020.
A report from Deadline after D23 has revealed Disney's Jack Sparrow plans for Pirates of the Caribbean 6. According to the report, Jack Sparrow will be treated more so as a supporting character in the sixth installment, and Robbie's female pirate character will serve as the protagonist. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer offers additional clarity below:
"We’re talking with Johnny [Depp], we’re working on a screenplay, and hopefully we can get this done.”
Pirates of the Caribbean has faced a number of challenges, with Depp's involvement being one of them. While the actor had never been formally fired from the project, various controversies, including most notably his public trial with ex-partner Amber Heard, left the future of Depp's tenure in the franchise in jeopardy.
It was only during D23 this year that Bruckheimer seemed to more officially confirm that Depp would be returning. This comes after speculation that the Pirates of the Caribbean team would have to announce this year whether Depp would be coming back.
While Depp's return will be a delight to fans, the fact that he is taking a smaller role may be disappointing to some. After all, Jack Sparrow is the character that has in many ways been holding up this $4.5 billion franchise for its now over two-decade-long tenure. So, giving him the backseat is taking a big risk.
That said, Robbie has proven to be a box office darling herself in the past. Barbie, which she both starred in and produced, made over $1.4 billion in theaters to become the highest-grossing movie of 2023. This helps prove that she is still beloved on her own, and can help prop up a series.
Thematically, the decision to center on Robbie's character as the lead will push the sequel, and any future Pirates of the Caribbean installments as a result, into a new direction. While the swashbuckling franchise has featured Keira Knightley and other female characters before, it has never had a female lead. If Pirates of the Caribbean 6 is successful in this attempt, it could mark an interesting creative turn for the series moving forward.