Until Disney announce full cast lists for the two Pirates of the Caribbean movies currently in development without his name involved, fans are never going to give up their hope that Johnny Depp will be brought back to the franchise as Captain Jack Sparrow. The idea of a swashbuckling blockbuster without the leading man is a strange and very risky notion, after all, one that could backfire spectacularly on the Mouse House.
While there’s every chance Pirates of the Caribbean will survive without Captain Jack, he’s been the main selling point and drawing card of the series dating back almost two decades to The Curse of the Black Pearl, and it’s easy to imagine a world where audience interest in the property would plummet if the iconic character wasn’t part of the ensemble, if only for a brief passing of the torch cameo and nothing else.
The petition to have him reinstated continues to rumble on, and it’s now less than 2,000 signatures shy of reaching 600,000 backers. Of course, major studios never listen to fan campaigns or online pleas when it comes to shaping the direction of their biggest projects, but it at least serves as a reminder that fans are still going to continue backing Depp to the hilt as Disney plan to reboot his marquee franchise with a new lead.
There’s been very little word on either the sixth installment or Margot Robbie’s spinoff for a while now, but as the industry begins to rebound following the dire straits of the COVID-19 era, there’s every chance we could be getting some significant Pirates of the Caribbean updates in the not too distant future, whether they involve Jack Sparrow or not.