Former Beatles frontman and music icon Paul McCartney has become a last-minute addition to Disney’s swashbuckling sequel, Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.
That’s according to Deadline, revealing that while the House of Mouse had officially wrapped production on the maritime adventure late last year, directors Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg are circling back to the high seas to add one major set piece which will, reportedly, revolve around McCartney’s newcomer.
Exactly what that spectacle will involve is up for question, though Deadline notes that said sequence isn’t a reshoot, but a new scene entirely. Keen to steer its prized attraction back to basics, it’s claimed that Dead Men Tell No Tales is holding up the beloved 2003 original as a reference point. That’s because, after four films of varying success, Disney’s Pirates have somewhat lost their way, engulfed in lavish set pieces and middling reviews that threatened to plunge the franchise to the depths of the ocean.
Of course, the studio’s strategy would likely be markedly different had On Stranger Tides not sailed past $1 billion at the global box office five years ago, giving Disney the impetus to overhaul the series rather than quietly staging a Viking funeral.
In doing so, much of the original Pirates cast are back on board for Dead Men Tell No Tales, including Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow, Geoffrey Rush as Barbossa, and Orlando Bloom’s Will Turner. There’s also the addition of Javier Bardem as the villainous Captain Salazar, along with fellow newcomers Brenton Thwaites and Kaya Scodelario.
A recent change in schedule means that Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales docks in theaters on May 26, 2017. Only then will we know the extent of Paul McCartney’s role.
