Disney Officially Green Lights “Weird” ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ Reboot

Six years ago, Johnny Depp appeared on the big screen for the last time as the beloved Captain Jack Sparrow in Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. Disney’s high-seas adventure films based on the iconic attraction began in 2003 with Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Fans were immediately hooked, and it became one of Disney’s most successful live-action franchises of all time. Disney even altered its own Pirates attractions at Disneyland and Disney World to include Captain Jack.

Disney made a total of five Pirates of the Caribbean films, and they were reportedly set to make a sixth. However, all that changed when Johnny Depp was accused of domestic abuse by his ex-wife Amber Heard. Disney was quick to cut ties with the star, despite the fact that he denied the claims and had not been tried or found guilty of any crime.

Even though Depp was out of the picture, Disney decided to press on with another Pirates film. For a while, it looked like Disney was going to reboot the franchise and create a new storyline with Barbie star Margot Robbie. Things moved along, but then Robbie stated publicly that Disney had decided not to move forward with the film.

However, Disney is not giving up. According to a recent report from The Los Angeles Times, Disney has teamed up with The Last of Us showrunner, Craig Mazin. Mazin sat down with The L.A. Times and revealed that he had pitched a story to Disney, and they purchased it, much to Mazin’s surprise. He admitted the story was “weird”, but Disney loved it and a script was written by Ted Elliott.

“We pitched it and thought there’s no way they’re buying it, it’s too weird. And they did! And then he wrote a fantastic script and the strike happened and everyone’s waiting around.”

Elliott has worked with Disney a number of times in the past and has worked on Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, and Aladdin.

What’s Happening With the Script

Unfortunately, things with the new Pirates of the Caribbean are currently at a standstill. In May, the Writers Guild of America went on strike, meaning Elliot could no longer work on the story. Then, in July, the Screen Actors Guild went on strike, putting any potential casting on indefinite pause.

Disney CEO Bob Iger has been getting a lot of backlash for the strikes and how long they have lasted. The day before SAG went on strike, Iger said that their demands were not realistic. That was the absolute wrong thing to say, with dozens of actors calling out Iger for owning a private yacht and making an average of $78,000 per day.

Iger is also on the AMPTP — Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers — negotiating team. That team is responsible for meeting with SAG and the WGA to end the strikes. Iger and the rest of the team have met with the WGA several times, but things have only gone from bad to worse, and no agreement has been made. The AMPTP has not yet met with SAG, but the Guild has said that it is financially prepared to strike for six months.

That means, that, until the strikes end and deals are made, Pirates of the Caribbean will be sitting on the back burner at Disney.

More Than One Pirates Script in the Works

Despite the fact that Margot Robbie said her Pirates film was “dead” at Disney, that is not completely true. Disney has said that it is completely willing to come back to the script at some time in the future.

Pirates of the Caribbean producer Jerry Bruckheimer has also admitted that there are multiple scripts in the works. He has said that he would love to work with Johnny Depp again, but didn’t say if Captain Jack Sparrow was in either of the scripts he was talking about. Depp has said that he would never return to Disney after the way they treated him, but never doesn’t always mean never.

Mazin has not said if his script will see the return of any beloved characters, like Will Turner (played by Orlando Bloom) or Elizabeth Turner (played by Kiera Knightley). He has also not said if he is going to try to get Depp to return to the House of Mouse for the new film.

Disney Fanatic will keep readers updated as we learn more about this new Pirates script.