Actor Johnny Depp is synonymous with his character of the rum-soaked pirate Captain Jack Sparrow from the franchise. The $4 billion franchise has been headlined by Depp since its first film and is the only actor from the series, along with Geoffrey Rush’s Hector Barbosa to be featured in all the films of the franchise.
The last film was , which was a critical and commercial failure. While a sixth film was planned, Depp was ousted from the franchise due to his highly publicized domestic abuse allegations from ex-wife Amber Heard. Amidst speculations regarding the sixth film of the franchise,
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While the hunt is on to find a suitable replacement for in subsequent films, one can see why it is a task that is next to impossible. The actor defined the role, breathed life into it, and gave the character an iconography that has become part of pop culture.
Johnny Depp’s casting was not instantly approved by Disney during the development of . The studio wanted Matthew McConaughey for the role as he resembled actor Burt Lancaster, the inspiration for the character. The studio also pushed for Christopher Walken or Cary Elwes for Jack Sparrow.
However, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Gore Verbinski thought that Johnny Depp brought a certain edge to the character, who was not supposed to be the protagonist of the film. Depp drew inspiration from the body language of rockstars for his portrayal of the pirate. He found similarities between rockstars and pirates and based his performance on Keith Richards, who ended up playing Sparrow’s father in the third film.
was a surprise blockbuster, earning over $650 million globally. It spawned four sequels, the last of which was branded as the weakest entry in the franchise. Rumors of the franchise being rebooted with a different actor started making the rounds after Disney cut off ties with Depp after the domestic abuse allegations surfaced.
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Currently, there has been no news about whether the next installment in the franchise will be a sequel or a reboot. While actress Margot Robbie was rumored to have been cast as a replacement for Johnny Depp, there have been announcements.
Creator of the HBO show Craig Mazin recently revealed that he had pitched a reboot of the franchise to Disney and that it had been picked up by the studio. Mazin mentioned that he agreed to work on the project if the studio was willing to bring back screenwriter Ted Elliott for the film. Elliott wrote all the films except the fifth one. Disney agreed to the condition.
Talking about the project with the Los Angeles Times, he said,
The Craig Mazin film was reported to be a reboot and the film was in development until this year’s WGA strike. However, the chances of Johnny Depp returning are slim. Disney has been non-committal about the possibilities of Depp’s return and the actor has also mentioned in court that he was disappointed with the way the studio handled the situation. While Depp did mention that he would return if the script was good and Mazin has assured that the script is ‘fantastic’, only the end of the WGA strike will reveal the answers. It all depends on Disney now.
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