Orlando Bloom is all in favor of getting the original “Pirates of the Caribbean” cast together for the sixth movie that’s been long in development. Appearing at Fan Expo Chicago (via Entertainment Weekly), Bloom rallied for the returns of Johnny Depp‘s Jack Sparrow, Kiera Knightley’s Elizabeth Swann and his own Will Turner.
“Everything is in the writing, right? Everything is on the page, and I think there’s definitely, I’m sure there’s a way to create something,” Bloom said. “I would personally love to see everybody back. I think the way to win on that one is to get everybody back. If they can, and if everybody wanted to go back.”
All three original characters debuted in 2003’s “The Curse of the Black Pearl” and headlined a trilogy that included 2006’s “Dead Man’s Chest” and 2007’s “At World’s End.” Only Depp’s Jack Sparrow continued on with 2011’s “On Stranger Tides” and 2017’s “Dead Men Tell No Tales” (Bloom and Knightley popped up in the credits scene of the latter). The “Pirates” movies have collectively grossed $4.5 billion worldwide.
“My thing is, if the script was great and — ideally it was everybody — it’d be kind of like in for a penny, in for a pound, you know,” Bloom added. “What they’re thinking…is how to do it. Do you bring in a female leading character that replicates Jack in some way? I don’t know. The jury is out on how to do it again, but if [the script] was great, [I’d be in].”
It’s been a long development road for a sixth “Pirates” movie. Variety reported in summer 2020 that Disney was in early development on two “Pirates” movies: A female-led reboot starring Margot Robbie and a proper sixth film in the original franchise. Robbie told Vanity Fair in November 2022 that Disney was not interested in her “more of a female-led” movie, although producer Jerry Bruckheimer downplayed the claim by later telling EW there’s still room for both “Pirates” movies to exist and “I think Disney agrees they really want to make the Margot one, too.”
Jeff Nathanson, who wrote the script for “Dead Men Tell No Tales,” is handling screenwriting duties for what would be the sixth “Pirates,” but the details of the plan remain unclear. Bruckheimer said last summer that he would be open to bringing Depp’s Jack Sparrow back, which has been a question mark as Depp remains ousted from Hollywood due to legal troubles and his 2022 libel trial against Amber Heard. That’s soon to change though, as Depp is headlining the Lionsgate action comedy “Day Drinker” alongside Penelope Cruz.
Bruckheimer told Entertainment Weekly earlier this month that he has spoken to Depp about returning as Jack Sparrow, adding: “If he likes the way the part’s written, I think he would do it. It’s all about what’s on the page, as we all know… We are still working on a screenplay. We want to make it. We just got to get the right screenplay. We haven’t quite gotten there yet, but we’re close.”
