Audiences may not have seen the last of Johnny Depp‘s (Captain) Jack Sparrow after all, as the actor recently addressed his potential return to the franchise for the long-gestating Pirates of the Caribbean 6.
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight (via Deadline), Depp revealed he would only appear in the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie if franchise producer Jerry Bruckheimer remains involved.
“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 actor said. “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.”
Depp is the de facto face of Disney‘s Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, with Jack Sparrow being the movies’ breakout character. He has appeared in every theatrical installment as the eccentric pirate Jack Sparrow, beginning with 2003’s The Curse of the Black Pearl, his performance in which earned him an Academy Award nomination. He is one of the few actors to return for every Pirates film.
Depp’s future with the Pirates franchise has been up in the air since his highly publicized 2022 defamation trial against his ex-wife Amber Heard. The actor revealed during the trial that nothing would convince him to return to the franchise. Disney is alleged to have fired Depp from Pirates of the Caribbean 6 over abuse allegations from Heard.
However, it’s clear that Depp is still quite fond of the franchise, having stated during the trial that he wanted to see Pirates through to the end. “My feeling was that these characters should be able to have their proper goodbye,” Depp said at the time. “There’s a way to end a franchise like that… I planned on continuing until it was time to stop.”
Depp ultimately won his defamation claims against Heard, making a path back to Disney and Pirates 6 a lot easier than if he had not. A former Walt Disney Studios executive told People in June 2022 that he expected Disney to mend any broken fences with the actor, explaining that “there is just too much potential box-office treasure for a beloved character deeply embedded in the Disney culture” to remain on the sidelines.
Pirates of the Caribbean 6 Has Gone Through Many Iterations
A sixth Pirates of the Caribbean movie has been in some form of development since 2011. Back then, the idea was for the fifth and sixth installments to shoot back-to-back, similar to Dead Man’s Chest (2006) and At World’s End (2007). That never happened, with the fifth film evolving into the standalone sequel, 2017’s Dead Men Tell No Tales.
At one point, amid the Depp-Heard drama, Disney began developing a female-led Pirates spinoff, with Margot Robbie attached to star. However, after several years in development, the spinoff was put on the back burner in favor of a proper Pirates 6, which is now seen as a huge priority for Disney under new CEO Josh D’Amaro.
At D23 earlier this year, Bruckheimer gave Deadline an update on Pirates of the Caribbean 6, saying, “We’re talking with Johnny [Depp], we’re working on a screenplay, and hopefully we can get this done.” Back in September 2025, Bruckheimer told TheWrap that Pirates franchise veteran Ted Elliott contributed to the current script, while an undisclosed screenwriter had been hired to “fill in the blanks.”
Pirates of the Caribbean 6 remains without a release date.
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