Pirates of the Caribbean producer Jerry Bruckheimer has confirmed he is in talks with Johnny Depp about reprising his iconic Jack Sparrow role.
“We’re talking to Johnny, we’re working on a screenplay and hopefully we can get this done,” Bruckhemier, 82, said during a Sunday, August 16, interview with Deadline at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event in Anaheim, California.
The outlet also reported that “solid sources” claimed Captain Jack Sparrow, whom Depp, 63, portrayed in the first five Pirates of the Caribbean films, will serve as a “side character” in what will be a sixth installment “evolution” of the franchise.
An all-new protagonist, believed to be portrayed by Margot Robbie, per the outlet, will reportedly star as the new Pirates lead.
Bruckheimer, who has served as lead producer on the Disney franchise since 2003’s Pirates of the Carribean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, told Entertainment Weekly in August 2025 that he had kicked off discussions about Depp returning for a sixth film. The news came as a surprise to fans at the time after Depp testified during his 2022 defamation trial with ex-wife Amber Heard that Disney had cut ties with him in 2018 following allegations of abuse against Heard, 40.
Depp has repeatedly denied all allegations of abuse made against him. Both Depp and Heard were both found liable by a jury for defamation against each other.
Bruckhemier told Entertainment Weekly last year, “If he likes the way the part’s written, I think he would do it. It’s all about what’s on the page, as we all know.”
More recently, Depp made a surprise appearance at Comic-Con, an event where Disney film and television projects often dominate, in San Diego last month while promoting his upcoming film Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol. (The film, scheduled for a November 13 release, is a Paramount Pictures, not a Disney production.)
Depp showed up to Comic-Con wearing full makeup and costume while embodying his forthcoming character of Ebenezer Scrooge.
In April, Depp’s Ebenezer costar Ian McKellen told Variety that Depp was in “spankingly good form” while filming the project. “Effervescent, funny, irreverent, serious — all at the same time. It was a bit of a love fest, really. I fell in love with him. He’s very obliging to his fellow actors. [There was] a wonderful feeling on the set,” McKellen, 87, said to the outlet at the time.
In the film, which is based on Charles Dickens’ classic, A Christmas Carol, Depp and McKellen are joined by Andrea Riseborough as the Ghost of Christmas Past, Severance’s Tramell Tillman as the Ghost of Christmas Present, Harry Potter star Rupert Grint as Bob Cratchit, and Sam Claflin and Daisy Ridley in unspecified roles.
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