Jerry Bruckheimer Confident Johnny Depp Will Make New ‘Pirates’

It’s been eight years since we’ve seen Captain Jack Sparrow grace our movie theater screens, but according to Pirates of the Caribbean producer Jerry Bruckheimer that could change in the near future.

In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Bruckheimer revealed he recently spoke to Johnny Depp and that he’s very optimistic Depp could return to the hit Disney franchise in a brand new Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

“If he likes the way the part’s written, I think he would do it. It’s all about what’s on the page, as we all know,” Bruckheimer said regarding whether or not he thinks Depp would step back into Jack Sparrow’s boots.

The producer also revealed he’s “close” to solidifying the sixth installment in the series, confirming he and his team are “still working on a screenplay” for a new Pirates film, which they’re eager to start making.

“We want to make it. We just got to get the right screenplay. We haven’t quite gotten there yet, but we’re close,” he shared.

Fans last saw Depp’s Jack Sparrow in the fifth Pirates installment, 2017’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.

Depp first brought the swaggering and staggering Jack Sparrow to life in 2003’s Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, based on the classic Disneyland and Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom ride of the same name. He starred as the charismatic pirate captain alongside Orlando Bloom (Will Turner) and Keira Knightley (Elizabeth Swann).

Depp has appeared in five Pirates films total to date, but if Bruckheimer gets his way, that number could soon turn to six.

**What's Going On With the Pirates of the Caribbean Franchise?**

It’s been a long time coming for a new Pirates movie. A sixth film in the franchise was in development as of 2018 following the release of the series' fifth movie Dead Men Tell No Tales in 2017.

In 2020, reports circulated that Disney was working on both a new installment in the core franchise as well as a women-led spinoff film starring Margot Robbie, though the official status of the latter remains unclear as of 2025 per conflicting reports.

In 2023, filmmaker and screenwriter Craig Mazin confirmed he had submitted a “weird” pitch to Disney for the sixth official Pirates movie, but that the Writers Guild of America strike had slowed down work on the script.

In 2024, Bruckheimer told Entertainment Weekly that Dead Men Tell No Tales writer Jeff Nathanson had been brought on to write the film’s screenplay.

“He’s cracked it. He’s got an amazing third act. We just gotta clean up the first and second and then we’ll get there. But he wrote a great, great third act,” Bruckheimer said of Nathanson’s working script at the time.

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Earlier this year, original trilogy star Orlando Bloom alluded to his potential return to the franchise in an interview. “I think they're trying to work out what it would all look like, I personally think it'd be great to get the band back together. That would be great, but there are always different ideas, and so we'll see where it lands,” the actor shared.

However, in 2024 Keira Knightley said she likely didn’t see herself returning to the Pirates series or similar large franchises since the films are so tolling and take a long time to shoot.

Meanwhile, Johnny Depp previously said that he would not return to Pirates even if he were offered “$300 million” after Disney allegedly “cut ties [with him] to be safe” following allegations of domestic abuse.

“They didn’t remove my character from the rides. They didn’t stop selling dolls of Captain Jack Sparrow. They didn’t stop selling anything. They just didn’t want there to be something trailing behind me that they’d find,” Depp said during his 2022 defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard when asked about his fractured relationship with the House of Mouse.