Although Margot Robbie’s Pirates of the Caribbean 6 wants to reboot the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise without Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow, it’s not likely that the proposed movie would succeed in this endeavor. The future of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise currently looks uncertain. In 2020, a sixth Pirates of the Caribbean movie starring Margot Robbie and scripted by Christina Hodson was announced, but recent years have seen no progress made on the project.
Meanwhile, the question of whether original Pirates of the Caribbean star Johnny Depp will return to the series remains a contentious one. A petition calling for Depp’s Sparrow to appear in Pirates of the Caribbean 6 has now earned over 700,000 signatures, but there has been no word of the actor’s planned return to the series so far. Not only that, but his willing departure from another major blockbuster franchise doesn’t bode well for a Pirates of the Caribbean return.
Pirates of the Caribbean 6 wants to capitalize on the profitable Pirates of the Caribbean brand without acquiring any of its negative publicity, but there are several reasons that this won’t work. For one thing, Depp’s Jack Sparrow is irreplaceable. For another, the rest of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise’s characters aren’t big box-office draws. Furthermore, the creative talent behind Pirates of the Caribbean 6 has been mishandled by Hollywood a lot recently, and there’s even an argument to be made that no one needs Pirates of the Caribbean 6 anyway.
Johnny Depp's Departure & Why It's So Bad For POTC's Reboot
Announced in 2020, Pirates of the Caribbean 6 is set to star Margot Robbie and will take place in the Pirates of the Caribbean universe. Not a lot else is known about the project, but not a lot else needs to be. The biggest issue with the project is not the talent that is involved, but the notably absent names. Johnny Depp isn’t mentioned in the reboot’s announcement, which is both understandable (given the actor’s ongoing legal troubles) and a major issue. Without Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow, there is no Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, since the series grew to rely on the actor more and more since the original Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy ended. Although any reboot necessitates a fresh start of sorts, the fact is that Depp and his performance is intrinsically linked with the series and is easily its most recognizable and marketable element. With all the other issues surrounding the production, removing the one guaranteed draw feels like a recipe for failure.
Pirates of the Caribbean 6’s Script Could Be In For Studio Struggle
Pirates of the Caribbean 6 screenwriter Christina Hodson has a technically illustrious career that is a testament to the perils of studio intervention. There is a troubling disconnect between the quality of her work and the reception it receives, with her more critically well-liked work failing financially and her acclaimed earlier scripts being adapted into unsuccessful movies. For example, Hodson’s Black List-worthy script Shut In was critically adored, but the screenplay nonetheless ended up being turned into a much-mocked flop of the same name in 2016. Similarly, her script for 2017’s Unforgettable earned her work comparisons to legendary thriller writer Joe Eszterhas—with the caveat that the movie itself failed to live up to its writing, and was a self-serious failure.
However, the proposed Margot Robbie-starring Pirates of the Caribbean 6 has a bigger problem than these mishandled scripts. Hodson’s two most recent efforts, 2018’s Bumblebee and 2020’s Birds of Prey were both much more critically well-liked. However, these well-reviewed blockbuster franchise installments also underperformed financially. Judging by Hollywood’s treatment of her work thus far, Hodson’s script is likely either end up shredded by the studio or successfully realized but a financial failure. In particular, the fact that Bumblebee and 2020’s Birds of Prey were attempts to reboot a popular blockbuster franchise by adding a female lead that earned critical acclaim, but didn’t land with audiences, doesn’t look promising for Pirates of the Caribbean 6. After all, the Margot Robbie-led Pirates of the Caribbean 6 is an attempt to reboot a popular blockbuster franchise by adding a female lead, continuing a trend that has found mixed fortunes so far.
Why Margot Robbie Can’t Replace Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow
While Margot Robbie is a major movie star, even an actor as acclaimed as her will struggle to replace Depp’s Jack Sparrow. Depp’s Sparrow is a uniquely offbeat blockbuster character and, while Robbie is well-known for taking on similar roles, this may well work against her attempts to replace the actor. Robbie’s take on Harley Quinn—an unhinged but charismatic, amoral opportunist—is relatively similar to Depp’s Jack Sparrow. As a result, sticking with this persona in Pirates of the Caribbean 6 could lead viewers to assume the actor was recycling her own work and imitating Depp’s character. The financial underperformance of The Suicide Squad, meanwhile, may lead Robbie to make her Pirates of the Caribbean 6 lead nothing like Harley Quinn—meaning the franchise will get a less playful, less light-hearted lead, the last thing that goofy adventure movies like the Pirates of the Caribbean series needs. Whichever direction Robbie takes, therefore, there are serious potential risks.
Why The Pirates of the Caribbean Reboot Needs Legacy Characters
Outside of Robbie’s heroine, Pirates of the Caribbean 6 either needs to bring back Jack Sparrow and company or ignore them, neither of which will make Pirates of the Caribbean fans happy. If Jack is back in only a cameo role, Pirates of the Caribbean 6 will need to completely reinvent the format of a series that has been relying progressively more on him with each new movie. In contrast, if Depp is absent, few viewers will be interested in the return of other legacy characters like Billy Nighy’s Davy Jones now that the series is shorn of its former fulcrum.
Without characters like Jones, Captain Barbossa, and Elizabeth Swann, Pirates of the Caribbean 6 will have nothing to do with the original franchise and an in-name-only connection to the series. Jungle Cruise attempted to recapture the vague vibe of Pirates of the Caribbean without an official franchise connection and failed in the endeavor despite its starry cast. This means that Pirates of the Caribbean 6 needs legacy characters to feel like an authentic addition to the series but can’t bring them back without Jack—particularly when the ”second generation" of Pirates of the Caribbean characters (from the fourth and fifth movies) were simply not as popular as the original trilogy leads, many of whom already returned for misjudged Pirates of the Caribbean 5 cameos.
Why Legacy Characters Can’t Save The Pirates of the Caribbean Reboot
If legacy characters do come back, the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise will have nowhere to go without Jack as he has been central to its last two movies. The movies relied on Jack so heavily that none of the “second generation” characters have a compelling story to tell without him. This means bringing them back would be a fool’s errand, and calls into question whether this any need for a Pirates of the Caribbean 6 without Jack Sparrow. Without Sparrow to anchor the action, there’s no major draw for audiences. Meanwhile, using Robbie’s heroine to replace him will either result in a more self-serious hero or an imitation of Depp’s best-liked character. Similarly, bringing back the likes of Pirates of the Caribbean 5’s Carina is unlikely to interest anyone unless Jack is back too while bringing Jack back means giving up on replacing the franchise’s hero. Ultimately, whether Pirates of the Caribbean 6 needs to exist is a question the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise creators should be asking while the project is still in limbo, before investing in an expensive misfire with no built-in audience.