Jerry Bruckheimer has ruled out returning to the franchise.
The 78-year-old Hollywood producer revealed that he is working on a Pirates of the Caribbean sequel with in the lead instead.
When asked whether the axed star, who is on a defamation trial with ex-wife , will be back, he told ’ Culture magazine: ‘Not at this point. The future is yet to be decided.’
On reports that a female-fronted reboot of the original series is happening, the producer – whose blockbuster movies Top Gun and Bad Boys made stars out of and – added: ‘Yes. We are talking to Margot Robbie.
‘We are developing two Pirates scripts – one with her, and one without.’
Depp played Captain Jack Sparrow in five instalments of the films and alleges that in which she alluded to allegations of domestic abuse.
Depp’s attorney Jessica Meyer claimed that the actor was interested in reprising his role in the sixth instalment in 2018, to give his character a proper send-off.
’My feeling was that these characters should be able to have their proper goodbye,’ Depp testified during the trial in April. ‘There’s a way to end a franchise like that… I planned on continuing until it was time to stop.’
He later agreed that even if Disney offered him all the money ‘on this earth’ he wouldn’t return to the film.
Heard’s lawyer Ben Rottenborn said in court: ‘The fact is, Mr. Depp, if Disney came to you with $300 million and a million alpacas, nothing on this earth would get you to go back and work with Disney on a Pirates of the Caribbean film? Correct?’
‘That is true, Mr. Rottenborn,’ he agreed.
The 58-year-old actor explained how ‘there was a deep and distinct sense of feeling betrayed by the people that I’ve worked hard for. People that I delivered a character to that they initially despised, but I stuck to my guns with the character and it seemed to work.’
Meanwhile, during the trial, Depp also said he took great pride in creating Jack Sparrow, and that his take on the character deviated from the one originally written in the script.
‘I incorporated my notes into the character and brought that character to life, much to the chagrin of Disney initially,’ he testified. ‘I believed in the character wholeheartedly, and initially, the Disney folks were somewhat upset.’
It was reported back in March 2020 that Margot and Birds of Prey writer Christina Hodson were re-teaming for a female-fronted movie for Disney.
claimed that the film would feature a wholly original story with new characters under the Pirates moniker.
