The sun may not have set on Johnny Depp's adventures on the high sea, if Jerry Bruckheimer has his way. Following his remarks last week on the status of bringing Depp back into the fold within the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, where said "we're still working on it" regarding Depp's status, Bruckheimer has now expanded on his thoughts via a new profile written by The Hollywood Reporter.
Bruckheimer noted that the decision ultimately lay in the hands of Disney, who retain the rights to make more films under the Pirates name. “You’d have to ask them. I can’t answer that question. I really don’t know," said Bruckheimer. "I would love to have him in the movie. He’s a friend, a terrific actor, and it’s unfortunate that personal lives creep into everything we do", before adding that the character of Jack Sparrow would also never be killed off. "You can’t,” he said. “We tried to kill him. It didn’t work.”
Depp was set to reprise his role as Captain Jack Sparrow in a sixth edition of the Pirates franchise, but it was revealed during his defamation lawsuit versus former spouse Amber Heard that he had been let go by Disney as a result of abuse allegations made by Heard. The jury reached a unanimous decision on June 1, finding Heard was guilty of defamation when claiming she was the victim of abuse at the hands of Depp. Heard was ordered to pay Depp $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages in his defamation suit.
During the trial, Depp admitted he would like to return to the franchise to say a proper farewell after 20 years as the character. “My feeling was that these characters should be able to have their proper goodbye, as it were,” Depp said. “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.”
During the trial, Bruckheimer distanced himself from discussing Depp's return to the franchise, while attempting to focus on two new projects based around Pirates. One was set to star Margot Robbie, although the actor claimed the project was dead, but Bruckheimer retains faith it will see the light of day. “It’s alive for me. It’s alive for Disney,” he said. “I’m sure she was disappointed it didn’t go first — or maybe not because she’s very busy, so it might be a blessing to push this a bit. We believe we’ll get it made. It’s a very strong story.”
While those projects may need a bit more work, there may yet be more adventures aboard the Black Pearl to come. Bring him that horizon.