In the years since Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales was released, it has become clear that the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise can’t rely on Jack Sparrow anymore—which is why the sequel needed No Time To Die’s biggest twist. No Time To Die shocked even veteran 007 fans when the movie killed off Daniel Craig’s version of James Bond. Ever since the suave, frequently-recast super-spy was introduced in 1962’s Dr. No, there seemed to be an unspoken agreement that the perpetually unflappable secret agent would never die.
Despite this perception, Daniel Craig’s James Bond did die, sacrificing himself to save his daughter and his love interest (a long with the rest of the world at large). This shocking ending proved that even a franchise as longstanding as the James Bond movies could still surprise viewers, something that the far younger Pirates of the Caribbean series has not pulled off in over a decade. However, 2017’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales did give the franchise’s creators a perfect chance to kill off Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow in a way that would have been as moving, surprising, and effective as Bond’s No Time To Die sacrifice, only for the creators to squander this opportunity.
Long before Depp’s legal troubles, the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise’s creators would have known what the main issue with the series was if they have paid attention to critics. The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise’s biggest problem was an over-reliance on Depp’s charismatic antihero, a glaring fault that led each subsequent sequel to place more and more of each movie’s appeal on the actor’s shoulders as their plots became less comprehensible and the supporting characters became more disposable. While the original trilogy at least attempted to make Elizabeth and Will’s love story as engaging as Sparrow’s misadventures, the fourth and fifth Pirates of the Caribbean movies abandoned all pretense and simply started giving Jack new throwaway sidekicks for each adventure. However, if Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales had killed off the lead character, the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise as a whole might have been salvaged.
Why Pirates of the Caribbean 5 Should Have Killed Jack Sparrow
Not only had Jack Sparrow run his course by this stage but, like the James Bond franchise, the Pirates of the Caribbean series could well have made Jack’s status as an invincible, un-killable figure tragic by having the suave antihero sacrifice himself for real. Already, the Pirates of the Caribbean movies had toyed with killing off Jack years earlier only to revive the character through supernatural means. However, if the plot of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales had given Depp’s character a purposeful reason to sacrifice himself, then the sequel could have made his death a meaningful, redemptive moment. Since Jack’s earlier fake-out death was an unwilling sacrifice to save his crew, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales needed an even more emotionally resonant reason to kill the franchise’s antihero. However, the sequel’s story had already introduced this reason.
Pirates of the Caribbean Set Up Jack’s Perfect Death
The twist that Carina was secretly Barbossa’s daughter in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales was predictable while also producing some major plot holes in terms of time frames. However, both of these plot problems would have been solved if Carina, who spent most of the movie working with Depp’s lovable rogue, was revealed to be Jack’s daughter instead. Unlike the Barbossa twist, this would have been an authentically surprising revelation that could have made Jack Sparrow’s sacrifice to save Carina in the ending of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales much more moving than Barbossa’s inevitable death. What made No Time To Die’s unexpected James Bond twist so effective was the fact that the character rarely put anyone else head of himself, meaning his decision to die for the sake of his daughter and his love interest was a poignant one. Similarly, Jack was always only ever looking out for himself, meaning dying for his daughter could have redeemed him.
Pirates of the Caribbean Already Wasted An Earlier Jack Sparrow Death
While Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales wasted Jack Sparrow’s perfect death at a time when reviewers (and even a vocal portion of fans online) had been complaining about the character’s over-exposure in recent sequels, the earlier sequel Dead Man's Chest has already teased the moment only to later undo the twist. When Elizabeth Swann forced Jack to stay behind on his ship as Davy Jones’s pet Kraken destroyed the vessel, she guaranteed the survival of their shared crewmates by leaving the captain behind. Jack’s reluctance to do the right thing, combined with his wistful admission that Elizabeth distracting him with a kiss was a clever ruse, was a perfect bittersweet end for him. This earlier demise kept Jack a cad right up until his dying moments, a daring decision that made his sacrifice all the more sad for viewers who wanted to see him somehow escape.
Of course, in the end, it turned out that Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest set up Jack’s self-sacrifice perfectly but didn’t go through with it. Not only was Jack almost immediately revived in the next movie but, as if to apologize for worrying fans, the plot-hole ridden At World’s End spent an absurd amount of screen-time detailing his adventures in the afterlife before his successful revival instead of focusing on its complicated, knotty plot. This made death cheap in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, particularly when the crew’s attempts to bring back Jack also brought back Barbossa after his death in the original Curse of the Black Pearl.
Why Pirates of the Caribbean 6 Can’t Kill Off Jack Sparrow
If Depp doesn’t return for Pirates of the Caribbean 6, killing off Jack seems desperate and bitter. If Depp does return, killing off Jack will seem pointless after the lengthy wait between movies. The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise waited too long and now Pirates of the Caribbean 6 can’t kill Jack Sparrow, as there is no organic way for the hero of the series to die. The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise had not one, but two perfect opportunities to kill off Jack Sparrow, and the failure to use No Time To Die’s riskiest trick in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales resulted in the series no longer having a dignified way to say goodbye to its former hero.