Hollywood's insatiable desire for reboots catches Pirates of the Caribbean's sinking ship in its maelstrom

Jack Sparrow, Will Turner, and Elizabeth Swann's tales are done for good, as Disney and the producers confirm that, to the surprise of no one but the most hopeful Johnny Depp fans, they're looking at other options for the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.

We'd been hearing chatter about the adventurous movie series looking for fresher waters for a few years now, with talent as big as the writers behind Deadpool or Margot Robbie trying to bring new ideas into the franchise, but it seems like the powers that be at Disney are carefully considering the options before moving forward with another set of pirates and an entirely new storyline.

Via ComicBook.com, and while talking to the site about The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, legendary Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who's been attached to all previous Pirates of the Caribbean flicks (which are available to watch on Disney+ right now), confirmed the current status of the IP at Disney and what they want to do. "It's hard to tell. You don't know, you really don't know... You don't know how they come together. You just don't know," he said, "Because with Top Gun you have an actor who is iconic and brilliant. And how many movies he does before he does Top Gun, I can't tell you. But we're gonna reboot Pirates, so that is easier to put together because you don't have to wait for certain actors."

Depp's name doesn't explicitly come up, but you know Bruckheimer is referring to the actor who became the face of the series for over a decade and is partially responsible for its bulky box office earnings over five movies. In fact, while you might think the fifth one flopped, it actually made nearly $800 million worldwide in theaters. Of course, with all the money problems steadily piling up, Disney is looking at past wins, so the return of Pirates of the Caribbean is only a matter of time.

As for Depp and this whole idea of rebooting the series (whether it's inside the same continuity or not), it simply makes sense to step away from the previous movies. We all know the actor's recent real-life controversies and how, on top of that, he probably isn't an ideal fit for such an action-heavy role anymore. Moreover, the post-original-trilogy stories didn't resonate with critics and diehard fans, so that path would hit a dead end sooner rather than later. In fact, the most relevant the IP has been in recent times was 2021's Sea of Thieves tie-in content.

On top of the aforementioned attempts, another option on the table is the script that Craig Mazin (The Last of Us and Borderlands) co-wrote alongside original Pirates scribe Ted Elliot, which Disney seemingly liked, but hasn't continued to develop as far as we know.