With Johnny Depp out as Captain Jack Sparrow, Disney is in the midst of relaunching the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise without him. And it seems the studio is going all in on the “girl power” angle. Not only is there one project in the works that may star Karen Gillan, but a spinoff produced by Margot Robbie is also in development. And with Robbie involved on both sides of the camera, this is the one that’s moving faster out of the two.
The actress appears to be passionate about diversifying the Pirates saga with her movie as well, which will be written by Birds of Prey scribe Christina Hodson. She’s previously teased that her film will be adding “a very key female element to that world,” while new intel is pointing to Robbie’s character in the pic being queer. Tipster Daniel Richtman shared the news this week, which follows on from an earlier rumor which pointed to much the same thing.
This isn’t all that surprising when you consider that Robbie and Hodson previously confirmed Harley Quinn was bisexual in Birds of Prey. Robbie has also revealed that she’s constantly pestering Warner Bros. to add Harley’s girlfriend Poison Ivy into the DCEU. On the other hand, Disney moving forward with a movie starring a queer protagonist is a bit of a shock as this would be a major first for the studio. Though there have been small LGBTQ moments in Mouse House films over the last few years, it’d definitely be a big leap.
In any case, plot details are still thin on the ground, but Robbie and Hodson’s intentions for the project are becoming clearer nonetheless. It seems the filmmaking pair want this to be the most progressive entry in the Pirates of the Caribbean universe by far, but we’ll have to wait and see if Disney allows them to go through with their groundbreaking plans.
