The Pirates of the Caribbean movies have been a tent-pole live-action franchise for Disney, and despite a roster of changing cast members the Pirates of the Caribbean order is easy to track for viewing. From 2003's Curse Of The Black Pearl, the Pirates of the Caribbean timeline has expanded to cover five movies, with a sixth on the way. The first five Pirates movies, from Curse Of The Black Pearl through Dead Men Tell No Tales, tell a continuous story, though.
The first Pirates of the Caribbean movie's witty script, Gore Verbinski's assured direction, and a memorable score from Hans Zimmer and Klaus Badelt helped make it a juggernaut success. To date, four sequels have been released, with Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow remaining a constant throughout and helping the franchise gross nearly $5 billion collectively. A new Pirates of the Caribbean movie is in development, but it's unclear where it'll fit in the timeline. The Pirates of the Caribbean movies, which can be found on Disney Plus, are best watched in order, as the story, following Sparrow’s journey from captain without a ship to fighting for Poseidon’s Trident, is chronologically linear.
Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl (2003)
The first Pirates of the Caribbean movie is Curse of the Black Pearl, both in terms of release and chronological order. While Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow might be the uniting factor between each installment, the first three Pirates of the Caribbean movies centered around the love story between Keira Knightley's Elizabeth and Orlando Bloom's Will Turner — and Curse of the Black Pearl kickstarted their epic high-seas romance as well as showing how Will and Elizabeth met as children.
Curse of the Black Pearl earned five Academy Award nominations, including one for Depp in the Best Actor category. Following Curse of the Black Pearl's success, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and At World's End were shot back-to-back, and while no actual timeline was given, the movies take place starting around 1728 or 1729.
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)
The second Pirates of the Caribbean movie is Dead Man's Chest, and the sequel upped the franchise's level of jaw-dropping spectacle. While Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest follows The Black Pearl's events, it fleshes out a significant amount of pre-movie PotC lore. Namely, it introduced Will Tuner's father Bootstrap Bill (Stellan Skarsgård), and revealed his fate as an eternal servant on the Flying Dutchman under the command of the inimitable Davy Jones (Bill Nighty). Dead Man’s Chest earned four Academy Awards nominations and won for Visual Effects. Furthermore, the film earned $1.066 billion, via Box Office Mojo, the most of all the PoTC films.
Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End (2007)
The third in the Pirates of the Caribbean order, At World's End, tied up the initial trilogy and once again enriched the surprisingly deep mythos, and earned two Oscar nominations doing so. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End reveals how Davy Jones went from human to octopus sometime between 1600 and 1660 when he fell in love with Calypso and received the Flying Dutchman. This is also around the time that he betrayed Calypso and ended up carving out his own heart and locking it in the Dead Man's Chest. While the story could have been the end of the Pirates of the Caribbean timeline, two more movies followed.
Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)
Neither Knightley nor Bloom returned for the fourth entry, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie in order, which instead had a romantic subplot between mermaid Syrena (Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey) and missionary Philip (Sam Claflin). The movie also introduced Angelica (Penelope Cruz), Jack Sparrow's former love interest. The story focused on the hunt for the Fountain of Youth, and On Stranger Tides was another runaway success financially. It nearly reached the heights of Dead Man’s Chest after At World’s End dipped to $960 million (Box Office Mojo), by earning $1.045 billion (Box Office Mojo).
The movie took place was around 1750, which was right after the story with Will and Elizabeth ended. There is also some lore here as well, as Juan Ponce de Leon set sail for the Fountain of Youth 100 years before the first movie in the series, and that played strongly into this storyline.
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017)
Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is the fifth PotC movie, and also the last in the current Pirates of the Caribbean order. Dead Men Tell No Tales is the most recent installment to date, and continued the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise's use of nautical legends and the supernatural. The story takes place only one year after the previous movie, meaning its place in the timeline was 1751. In it, Captain Armando Salazar (Javier Bardem), a literal pirate hunter ghost from Jack's past, returns to seek revenge, as Jack tricked him into the Devil's Triangle in 1708. This was ironically also the same year Will Turner was born.
Everything We Know About Pirates Of The Caribbean 6 (& The Margot Robbie Spinoff)
Disney hasn't been coy about its goals to expand the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. There are theories that Pirates of the Caribbean 6 could be anything from a reboot to a spin-off. Disney confirmed there would be a new Pirates of the Caribbean installment way back in 2018, but no details were given. Before this, in 2017 Kaya Scoledario said she was contracted to return as Carina Smyth for Pirates of the Caribbean 6. There's been no update on her involvement since, but more about the next film in the franchise has been revealed since her interview and Disney's announcement.
While there is still little known about Pirates of the Caribbean 6 and a release date and cast list are still unknown, it's been confirmed that Joachim Rønning, who co-helmed Dead Men Tell No Tales, will direct. Meanwhile, Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin and Pirates writing veteran Ted Elliot will pen the script, which is in development.
In addition to Pirates of the Caribbean 6, a franchise spinoff starring Margot Robbie and scripted by Birds of Prey screenwriter Christina Hodson was announced in 2020. However, late 2022 saw conflicting reports on whether the project was moving forward. Robbie claimed in an interview that it wasn't while producer Jerry Bruckheimer commented on the Robbie Pirates movie saying "It's alive for Disney." and "We believe we'll get it made."
Why Johnny Depp Won't Be Returning As Jack Sparrow for Pirates 6
One known quantity, however, is that Jack Sparrow won't return for Pirates of the Caribbean 6. When Disney announced a new installment for the franchise, Depp was initially attached to the project, but that was back in 2018. While the reasons behind the decision are contested by Disney and his own legal team, Johnny Depp is no longer involved with Pirates of the Caribbean 6 or any possible spin-offs.
Bruckheimer did leave the door ajar for a Jack Sparrow return, but in later interviews, he too confirmed Johnny Depp isn't involved (The Sunday Times). While Disney Studios president Sean Bailey recently teased they may not be completely done with Depp, Depp's been vocal about his feelings on the original decision to drop him from Pirates of the Caribbean. It seems he's in no hurry to work with Disney again, even if an olive branch were extended. Wherever Pirates of the Caribbean 6 sits in the chronological timeline, it will be the starting point of the franchise's next chapter, one without Captain Jack Sparrow.