Over the past 15 years, Johnny Depp has been the major lead in the five Pirates of the Caribbean movie. But he was dropped from the franchise in 2018 over his ex-wife Amber Heard’s op-ed, where she described herself as a public figure representing domestic abuse.
Stuart Beattie, the Original Pirates Scriptwriter, was the first to publicly confirm Disney was ditching him and claimed they reworked the entire franchise at the time.
As Beattie spoke exclusively to DailyMailTV at a red carpet event in Hollywood, he confirmed the reboot meant Depp was out as Sparrow. He then added: “I think he’s had a great run. Obviously, he’s made that character his own and it’s become the character he’s most famous for now. And kids all over the world love him as that character so I think it’s been great for him, it’s been great for us, so I’m just happy, very happy about it.”
Following his defamation trial win, Depp is now reportedly set to return to the franchise.
A source told Poptopic that the actor, 59, is currently in talks with Disney about a $300million deal. They added that Disney is interested in patching the relationship with Depp and has recently reached out to him. “They reached out to the actor prior to his defamation trial against Amber Heard and asked whether he would be interested in returning for another pirate film or two.” The source also stated that another project is in the works for Disney Plus.
“The deal is reportedly for Johnny Depp to return as Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean 6 and a spin-off Disney Plus series about the early life of the Captain of the Black Pearl.”
“What I can tell you is that the studio has already penned up a draft for a film about Jack Sparrow, so they are very hopeful that Johnny will forgive them and return as his iconic character.” The source continued that the media house is working on a $301 million deal to coax Depp back soon and is reportedly adding a sizeable donation to a charity of Depp’s choice as a gesture of goodwill.
This comes as the Edward Scissorhands star had told the jury he wouldn’t work with Disney again after he was axed from the sixth Pirates movie.
His legal team, including Camille Vasquez and Benjamin Chew, had claimed Depp lost out on a $22million payday after Heard’s op-ed that didn’t identify Depp but branded him as a domestic abuser. Depp himself revealed he felt as if he was guilty until proven innocent with Disney executives.
