Johnny Depp Gone From the Pirates of the Caribbean Franchise

After fourteen years as Captain Jack Sparrow, actor Johnny Depp will be dropped from that role in the planned Pirates of the Carribean reboot.

Stuart Beattie, the screenwriter of the original Pirates of the Carribean movie, in an interview with Daily Mail TV, said that “I think he’s had a great run” and “it’s become the thing that he’s most famous for now. It’s been great for him and it’s been great for us.” It’s also been great financially, with the franchise making over $4.5 billion becoming—the twelfth biggest franchise of all time, according to The Independent.

As much as I have come to loathe Johnny Depp, I remember seeing the original Pirates of the Carribean movie in theaters, as well as all the sequels. The Jar of Dirt memes will always hold a special place in my heart. Captain Jack Sparrow was a character I loved for a long time, but the man behind the wig has tainted it for me. While I’d like to think that this change has come from Disney not wanting an alleged domestic abuser on their payroll, it more likely stems from the fact that Depp was a mess on the set of the last Pirates film.

Crew members from Dead Men Tell No Tales spoke out about Depp’s behavior on the set of the film. According to these unnamed sources, Depp’s lateness and alleged heavy drinking let to fights, which have been denied by producers, but still, the rumors circulated and made it to several news sites.

Depp will most likely be unfazed by this, since he’s currently doing the press and PR tour for Fantastic Beasts 2: Crimes of Grindelwald. A small part of me hopes every day that the movie will underperform just to spite Yates and Rowling for really allowing Depp to continue to have a massive victim complex, and doing so with one of the biggest franchises of all time, with the blessing of its original creator.

Rebooting the Pirates franchise seems like an exhausting idea, especially because it’s such a new series anyway, with actors still around doing things that it seems like just a way for them to get a money grab without dealing with any potential bad press about Depp. If this new rebooted series does focus on a female heroine, as fellow TMS writer Kate suggested, that would be a bit interesting, but I feel like this franchise was lightning in a bottle, and attempting to recreate its magic will not work.

Plus, as much as I hate to praise Depp, his turn as Sparrow in the first three movies was great. He turned what could have been a narm-y role into a nomination for an Academy Award … in the best Best Actor category.

Plus, I’d much rather have a Black Sails movie anyway, or let’s just go crazy and have a live-action Treasure Planet. 

(Credit: Lionsgate)

(via The Independent, image: Disney)

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