Johnny Depp is in talks to return to Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean, confirmed!
Producer Jerry Bruckheimer told Deadline at D23 that talks with Johnny Depp are underway for Pirates of the Caribbean 6. Deadline’s sources say the film would center on Margot Robbie’s character, with Jack Sparrow in a supporting role.
Four years after saying nothing on earth would bring him back, Johnny Depp is talking to Disney again.
Producer Jerry Bruckheimer confirmed it at D23 on August 16, telling Deadline that on Pirates of the Caribbean 6, “we’re talking with Johnny, we’re working on a screenplay, and hopefully we can get this done.”
Talks are not a deal. Bruckheimer has been optimistic about this for years without a contract materializing.
He said it would take $300 million and a million alpacas
The line has followed Depp since 2022.
During his defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard, attorney Ben Rottenborn put it to him directly: “The fact is, Mr. 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?”
“That is true, Mr. Rottenborn,” Depp answered.
He testified that he felt betrayed by Disney after the company distanced itself from him. The alpaca detail came from a woman who had been showing up outside the Fairfax County courthouse with two of her own, dressed in pirate hats.
A Disney production executive was later asked under oath whether the company would consider paying Depp more than $300 million and supplying more than a million alpacas. She said no. Depp laughed so hard in the courtroom he had to cover his face.
The jury largely favored Depp, Heard won $2 million on a countersuit, and the two settled for $1 million.
Ebenezer is the comeback that made this possible
The Pirates talks aren’t happening in isolation. Depp is already back at a major studio.
He stars in Paramount‘s Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol, directed by Ti West, opening in November. It’s his first major studio film in close to a decade, and he promoted it in character at San Diego Comic-Con in July.
Next year he leads Lionsgate‘s Day Drinker opposite Penélope Cruz, directed by Marc Webb.
Whatever anyone thinks of it, the industry has reopened the door, and Disney appears to be the last major holdout considering walking through it.
Jack Sparrow may not be the lead
Here’s the part most coverage will skip, and it changes the shape of the news.
Deadline reports that sources say the next film won’t be another Jack Sparrow story.
Instead it would center on Margot Robbie‘s protagonist, with Sparrow as a side character.
Robbie has been attached in some form since 2020, through multiple scripts and years of rumors that she was either replacing Depp or leading a separate film. Bruckheimer denied in March that Depp had been cut.
So the version being discussed isn’t Depp headlining a sixth Pirates. It’s Depp appearing in someone else’s Pirates. That’s a considerably different proposition for both the actor and the fans demanding his return.
The franchise needs the help
The business case explains the persistence.
Five films have grossed roughly $4.5 billion worldwide, one of the most lucrative live-action franchises Disney has ever run.
But the trend line is bad. Dead Men Tell No Tales in 2017 took $795.9 million, the lowest total in the series, on a budget that ran north of $200 million. That’s the film that stalled everything.
Nine years later, Disney has a valuable brand nobody has figured out how to relaunch. Depp is the only variable that reliably moves the audience.
Nothing is actually locked
There’s no finished script, no director attached, no cast signed, and no release date. The project has cycled through writers since 2018, including Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, Craig Mazin and Ted Elliott, Jeff Nathanson, and Christina Hodson. Kristy Wilson-Cairns has been reported as the current writer.
Bruckheimer has said for years that everything depends on the screenplay, and that Depp would do it if he liked how the part was written.
Which brings it back to the same place it has sat since 2018. Disney wants the movie, Bruckheimer wants Depp, Depp wants a script worth reading, and nobody has produced one yet. The alpacas, at least, are still available.
Article compiled with the help of the Pirates & Princesses newsroom.
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Hat Tips:
Deadline (August 16, 2026), the Bruckheimer interview at D23, the direct quote on talks with Depp, the sourcing on Margot Robbie leading with Sparrow as a side character, and the franchise box office figures
Snopes (June 2022) and Newsweek (May 2022), the verified alpaca exchange from the trial, the Disney executive testimony, and the courthouse alpacas
TheWrap and World of Reel (August 16, 2026), the Ebenezer and Day Drinker details and Depp’s return to studio filmmaking
MovieWeb and Variety (2025 and 2026), the screenwriter history and Bruckheimer’s earlier comments on the script