Jerry Bruckheimer has said that Margot Robbie is in talks to permanently replace Johnny Depp in the Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise, with the latter unlikely to return “at this point”.
Depp is currently suing his ex-wife for defamation over a 2018 op-ed in The Washington Post, where she wrote about being a survivor of domestic violence.
Heard didn’t mention Depp by name in the piece, though his lawyers argue it falsely implies she was sexually and physically abused by him in their marriage. She has also filed a counterclaim against her former husband, arguing he has created a smear campaign against her.
Speaking to The Sunday Times’ Culture magazine (per Metro), Bruckheimer was asked if Depp was expected to return to the films. “Not at this point,” he replied. “The future is yet to be decided.”
Responding to the long-touted female-fronted reboot of Pirates Of The Caribbean, the 78-year-old producer – also known for Top Gun, Bad Boys, and several other major Hollywood films – appeared to confirm the reports.
“Yes. We are talking to Margot Robbie,” he told the magazine. “We are developing two Pirates scripts – one with her, and one without.”
Depp played Captain Jack Sparrow in five films across the popular franchise. Depp’s attorney Jessica Meyer claimed that the actor was keen to reprise his role in the sixth instalment to round off his character’s story arc.
“My feeling was that these characters should be able to have their proper goodbye,” Depp told the trial. “There’s a way to end a franchise like that… I planned on continuing until it was time to stop.”
The actor later stated that he wouldn’t return to the role even if Disney offered him all the money “on this earth”.
Back in 2020, Robbie teased details of her role in the new Pirates film – separate to another reboot, originally planned with Depp – promising “lots of girl power”.
“I’m not a producer on Pirates, so I’ll sit back and kind of wait for the process,” she added. “We’re really, really excited at the prospect of adding obviously a very key female element to that world.”
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