After Robbie and “Birds of Prey” scribe Christina Hodson announced in 2020 a female-fronted “Pirates of the Caribbean” spinoff, Robbie recently confirmed to Vanity Fair that the project is dead in the water at Disney. “We had an idea and we were developing it for a while, ages ago, to have more of a female-led — not totally female-led, but just a different kind of story — which we thought would’ve been really cool, but I guess they don’t want to do it,” Robbie said of Disney. IndieWire has reached out to Disney for comment. Longtime “Pirates” producer Jerry Bruckheimer was slated to produce the film, with Bruckheimer stating in May 2022 that the script was still in development along with “Chernobyl” creator Craig Mazin’s upcoming franchise installment.
“We’re talking to Margot Robbie. We are developing two ‘Pirates’ scripts — one with her, one without,” Bruckheimer told The Sunday Times earlier this year. “[Will Johnny Depp be back?] Not at this point. The future is yet to be decided.”
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As Johnny Depp’s post-defamation trial comeback continues to mount, it’s unclear if Depp is being courted to return to the “Caribbean” films. Depp famously played Captain Jack Sparrow in the franchise across almost two decades.
“My feeling was that these characters should be able to have their proper goodbye, as it were,” Depp said during his trial against ex-wife Amber Heard. “A franchise can only last for so long, and there’s a way to end a franchise like that, and I thought that the characters deserved to have their way out, to end the franchise on a very good note. I planned on continuing until it was time to stop.”
Depp said he was being “boycotted by Hollywood” in 2021 ahead of his court case being tried against Heard. Depp exited Warner Bros.’ “Fantastic Beasts” franchise in 2020, with Mads Mikkelsen taking over his role. The “Ed Wood” star additionally slammed distributors for allegedly “burying” biopic “Minimata.” Now Depp is transforming into King Louis XV for “Jeanne du Barry,” and will direct biopic “Modigliani.”
Meanwhile, outside of the shelved “Pirates” project, Robbie is starring in both “Babylon” and “Barbie.” Check out Robbie’s full list of upcoming work here.
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