New ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ Scripts in Development

The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise may be coming back — and Captain Jack Sparrow might be coming back with it.

It’s been seven years since the last film in the franchise, 2017’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. Although still a hit at the box office, the movie was marked by poor reviews, and star Johnny Depp was engulfed in assorted controversies after that. From then on, Disney and producers explored ways to continue the franchise without Depp and his Captain Jack.

For a while they looked at making a female-driven Pirates, which could have starred Margot Robbie. But that project was supposedly “dead” by 2022. (And not the kind of dead that can be undead by cursed pirate gold, either.) Then there was talk of a “reboot” of the franchise. As of yet, nothing has come of that concept.

Now there’s a new report in Variety about the state of Disney, which is riding high after the monster opening of its latest animated feature, Moana 2. According to their sources “Pirates producer Jerry Bruckheimer is developing two versions” of a new Pirates movie, “on parallel tracks.”

READ MORE: Moana 2 Smashes Multiple Box Office Records

One version “could bring Depp back into the fold if the actor and Disney can reconcile.” The other does not include him.

Regarding a potential Depp return, their source claims, “nothing has been ruled out.”

The five Pirates of the Caribbean movies to date have grossed a staggering $4.5 billion to date. So there will be a sixth movie at some point. The question is what it looks like and whether Depp is in it. At this point, Depp‘s reputation and public persona is probably less the sticking point than his asking price — will the exorbitant amount of money he will demand justify itself? Or could you cast Timothée Chalamet as the young Jack Sparrow or something? (I’m throwing out ideas here, but maybe it’s not as far-fetched as it sounds.)