Deppths of despair: Disney says no to Johnny Depp's return to Pirates of the Caribbean role
Actor Johnny Depp gestures at the media during an event.
Captain Jack Sparrow is full of sorrow.
Hollywood actor Johnny Depp has been undergoing a rough patch lately. He lost his libel battle with a British newspaper for having called him a “wife beater.” This came after a High Court judge pronounced that the tabloid's charges were “substantially true”.
Now, he has suffered one more blow, which could well finish his career as well. For more than a decade, he has playing the unfortunate and slurring pirate Jack Sparrow and raking in millions at the box office.
Now it appears as though his 'Pirates of the Caribbean' run has come to an end once and for all.
Depp played Captain Jack Sparrow in five films across 14 years. The franchise has accumulated box office takings of over $4.5bn, making it the twelfth biggest of all time.
However, Disney is said to have put a stop to the actor’s planned cameo in the next instalment.
The Hollywood Reporter claims that producer Jerry Bruckheimer planned to bring Sparrow back in some capacity for the sequel, but that Disney “baulked” at the idea.
It’s unclear whether the studio, who has never formerly cut ties with the actor, ever had plans to bring Depp back as Sparrow.
However, in 2018, Stuart Beattie, the original film’s screenwriter, seemed to confirm Depp’s time as the character was over, stating: “I think he's had a great run."
His recasting in the third film came after the actor was denied permission to appeal against the High Court’s ruling, which concluded that he assaulted his ex-wife Amber Heard. Mads Mikkelsen will now play the role of Grindelwald in the Harry Potter spin-off.
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Depp, 57, has always denied being violent towards Heard, whose role in Aquaman 2 has since come under fire from Depp’s supporters .
Addressing a petition, signed by more than 1.7m people, Heard told Entertainment Weekly: “Paid rumours and paid campaigns on social media don’t dictate [casting decisions] because they have no basis in reality.”
These reports come after Depp resigned from the 'Fantastic Beasts' franchise at the request of Warner Bros after losing a libel case against The Sun over a 2018 article that called him a “wife beater”.
Earlier this month, it was alleged that Depp had previously tried to get Amber Heard replaced on the film after their relationship ended.
'Pirates of the Caribbean' is said to be returning with a new film starring Margot Robbie in the lead role.
