‘Pirates Of The Caribbean’ Producer Jerry Bruckheimer Says Johnny Depp Would Star In Reboot “If It Was Up To Me”

Pirates of the Caribbean producer Jerry Bruckheimer is still open to having Johnny Depp reprise his iconic role as Captain Jack Sparrow.

Back in March, the producer confirmed that he was working on a reboot of the franchise, telling ComicBook.com that a reboot is “easier to put together because you don’t have to wait for certain actors.”

Bruckheimer has since joined forces with Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales writer Jeff Nathanson to pen the film, which he recently told Entertainment Weekly is well on its way.

“I think he’s cracked it,” he said of Nathanson’s script for the reboot. “He’s got an amazing third act. We just gotta clean up the first and second and then we’ll get there. But he wrote a great, great third act.”

Because the new Pirates of the Caribbean film is a reboot, the movie will not follow the same beloved characters from the first five flicks. However, Bruckheimer admitted that he would still love to have Depp back as Captain Jack Sparrow.

“It’s a reboot, but if it was up to me, he would be in it,” Bruckheimer told EW. “I love him. He’s a good friend. He’s an amazing artist and he’s a unique look. He created Captain Jack. That was not on the page, that was him doing a little Pepé Le Pew and Keith Richards. That was his interpretation of Jack Sparrow.”

While Bruckheimer supports Depp’s return to the franchise, the actor previously said he would never make another Pirates film again — not even for “$300 million and a million alpacas.”

Depp’s confession came amid his infamous defamation trial, in which he sued his ex-wife Amber Heard over an op-ed she wrote about being a domestic violence survivor. The actor claimed that Heard damaged his reputation and his Hollywood career, resulting in Disney cutting ties with him ahead of the sixth Pirates movie. The jury ultimately ruled that both Depp and Heard defamed each other, though mostly sided with Depp.

Following Depp’s departure from Pirates, it was widely reported that Margot Robbie was set to star in a female-led sixth film. While the actress has since declared the movie defunct, Bruckheimer assured fans that it’s still in the works.

“It’s two different movies,” he said, per EW. “We hope to get ’em both made, and I think Disney agrees they really want to make the Margot one, too.”

The first five Pirates of the Caribbean films are currently streaming on Disney+.