Johnny Depp has put a single condition on ever wearing Captain Jack Sparrow’s hat again: the sixth Pirates of the Caribbean film has to give the saga a proper ending. He named that one goal, and nothing else, in a TV interview released this week while promoting his holiday film Ebenezer.
“If things are exactly where they need to be with regard to how they are going to top off the ‘Pirates’ franchise… the only involvement I really want to have, truly, is just to send them off on a better note,” the 63-year-old said.
So no demands about pay, screen time or co-stars. The ask is about the finale. Depp did not say he has signed on, and no studio has announced a cast.
The Bruckheimer factor
Depp tied any return to one person: Jerry Bruckheimer, the producer behind all five films. “I will go to work with [Jerry] Bruckheimer tomorrow for anything. Doesn’t matter… if it’s Jerry, I trust him. We have a deep friendship,” he said.
The feeling runs both ways. Bruckheimer said at Disney’s D23 event this summer, “We’re talking with Johnny,” and earlier this year, at the Producers Guild Awards, he brushed off reports that the series would move on with a new lead, adding, “if it’s up to me, he’ll be in it.”
The script has been the sticking point for years. Several writers have cycled through the project since 2017, a Margot Robbie-led version has been in and out of development, and Bruckheimer has repeatedly said nothing will shoot until the pages are right. Depp’s comment fits that pattern: he wants to see how the story lands before he commits.
Why “a better note” matters
The last chapter, Dead Men Tell No Tales, earned about $796 million worldwide in 2017, the lowest total of the five, and it holds the weakest critics’ score in the series. Depp’s own phrase suggests he sees that film as an unfinished goodbye, not a farewell.
The commercial case for a return is plain. Across five films the series has taken in more than $4.5 billion globally, and two entries, Dead Man’s Chest and On Stranger Tides, each cleared $1 billion.
Timeline: Depp’s 14 years as Jack Sparrow
Badiyaa lined up the five US release dates to show how long Depp actually spent in the role, from first voyage to last.
- July 9, 2003: The Curse of the Black Pearl launches the series and grosses about $654 million worldwide.
- July 7, 2006: Dead Man’s Chest becomes the top-grossing film of 2006 at roughly $1.07 billion.
- May 25, 2007: At World’s End follows less than a year later, shot back-to-back with part two.
- May 20, 2011: On Stranger Tides passes $1 billion, with Penélope Cruz and Ian McShane joining the crew.
- May 26, 2017: Dead Men Tell No Tales closes out Depp’s run so far at about $796 million.
Counting from the first release to the fifth, Depp played Sparrow across almost 14 years, from 2003 to 2017. If a sixth film arrives, the gap since his last outing would already be longer than nine years, well beyond the four-year wait between the third and fourth films and the six-year wait between the fourth and fifth.
Only three actors, Depp, Geoffrey Rush and Kevin McNally, have appeared in all five films. Depp built the character himself, famously mixing Keith Richards with cartoon skunk Pepé Le Pew.
What comes first: Scrooge
Before any pirate news, Depp has a different costume to sell. He plays Ebenezer Scrooge in Paramount’s Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol, which premiered in New York on Sunday. We covered the film’s first look in October in our piece on Depp’s Scrooge featurette.
For the full release history of the pirate films, see the open reference entry on the Pirates of the Caribbean film series.
Ebenezer opens in theaters on November 13.
Further reading
Image: Harald Krichel, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
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