Pirates of the Caribbean reboot speculation confirmed by producer Jerry Bruckheimer

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer has confirmed speculation surrounding the iconic pirate franchise. Photo / Supplied

Grab your mates, some rum and a bottle of dirt - the sixth instalment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise is reportedly in the works.

It has been seven years since the last film, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, hit screens. Now, producer Jerry Bruckheimer has revealed that a “reboot” of the popular film series is on the horizon.

Bruckheimer, who is also famous for working on the blockbuster Top Gun, confirmed the news in an interview with ComicBook.com while discussing which movie he would bring back first.

“It’s hard to tell. You don’t know, you really don’t know,” he said. “Because with Top Gun, you have an actor who is iconic and brilliant. And how many movies he does before he does Top Gun, I can’t tell you.”

He added: “But we’re gonna reboot Pirates, so that is easier to put together because you don’t have to wait for certain actors”.

If the producer isn’t holding out for anyone in particular, the franchise’s protagonist Jack Sparrow, played by Johnny Depp, is seemingly out of the picture. However, this news isn’t a shock.

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer. Photo / AP

Depp parted ways with the franchise amid his court battle with ex-wife Amber Heard and during his headlining defamation trial two years ago, he admitted that he would never work with Disney again.

“The fact is, Mr Depp, if Disney came to you with US$300 million ($500m)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?” Amber Heard’s lawyer Ben Rottenborn asked Depp, to which he responded, “That is true, Mr Rottenborn.”

Speculation has been swirling for years that the sixth movie would feature Margot Robbie. Despite the Barbie actress telling Vanity Fair that Disney was no longer progressing with the movie, Bruckheimer hinted that he may revisit the script in the future.

“We developed two scripts at once and the Margot Robbie script was a little further away, but we’ll get that made down the line too and focus on more of an ensemble Pirates movie at this point,” he told the Wrap.

Craig Mazin, the creator of Chernobyl and The Last of Us, told the Los Angeles Times last year that he and screenwriter Ted Elliott were working on a script for the new Pirates of the Caribbean film. However, the Hollywood strikes threw a spanner in the works.

“We pitched it and thought there’s no way they’re buying it, it’s too weird. And they did!” Mazin revealed in August 2023. “And then we wrote a fantastic script and the strike happened and everyone’s waiting around.”

While not much is yet known of the upcoming film, Bruckheimer has made it clear that he is open to Depp returning as Captain Jack Sparrow.

“I would love to have him in the movie,” he confessed to the Hollywood Reporter two years ago. “He’s a friend, a terrific actor and it’s unfortunate that personal lives creep into everything we do.”