Although fans of the Pirates of the Caribbean series have made it clear that they want to see Johnny Depp return to his role as Jack Sparrow, that is unfortunately impossible due to the actor’s own decision. When the franchise began in 2003 with Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Depp earned a Best Actor nomination at the Academy Awards for his portrayal of the roguish antihero Captain Jack Sparrow. The character swiftly became a fan favorite, although this development came at the detriment of the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels.
With each new installment, the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise focused more on Depp’s depiction of Jack Sparrow and less on the rest of the characters. Depp’s massive Pirates of the Caribbean 6 fee made it clear that the series intended to continue in this vein, but then the actor’s legal controversies led to Disney firing him from the role. Fans of the actor and the franchise have since called upon the studio to reinstate him as Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. There are two major petitions supporting Depp, requesting that he star in a new Pirates of the Caribbean movie, and they each impressively boast more than 700,000 signatories, separately.
Although there is huge fan demand for Depp to return to the role, though, the actor himself has made it clear that he is done with the Captain Jack Sparrow character. He simply does not want to return to the role. While another installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise could never fix Depp’s Jack Sparrow anyway, the actor himself appears to agree with this summation. He stated in court that no amount of money could have convinced him to return as Jack Sparrow, meaning the various calls for Disney to rehire him in the role are inherently pointless.
This may come as a blow to fans of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, many of whom find Depp’s performance as Jack Sparrow to be central to its appeal. However, there was little ambiguity when Amber Heard’s lawyer, Benjamin Rottenborn, asked Depp, “If Disney came to you with $300 million and a million alpacas, nothing on this earth would get you to go back and work with Disney on a Pirates of the Caribbean film, correct?” and Depp responded in the affirmative. Whether the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise can get over Depp's exit and remain appealing to audiences remains to be seen, but the option of simply rehiring the actor appears to be dead in the water more due to Depp’s reticence than any other factor.
In fairness to Depp, the gradually worsening critical reception of the series makes his decision understandable. His performance was singled out as one of the only saving grace of the fourth movie, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, while the actor’s turn in the fifth, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, was met with as much intense critical backlash as the rest of the disappointing sequel. As such, it is reasonable that Johnny Depp doesn’t intend to play Captain Jack Sparrow again, despite the blow this brings to a great number of Pirates of the Caribbean fans.