“Suicide Squad” actress Margot Robbie recently announced that Disney’s female-led “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie is no longer being made.
The 32-year-old provided the update during a recent Vanity Fair cover story interview.
“We had an idea and we were developing it for a while, ages ago, to have more of a female-led — not totally female-led, but just a different kind of story — which we thought would’ve been really cool,” Robbie told the publication about the canceled project. “But I guess they don’t want to do it.”
The announcement was made in June 2020 that Robbie would star in the female-focused “Pirates” spinoff, which was to be written by her “Birds of Prey” screenwriter Christina Hodson.
Producer Jerry Bruckheimer mentioned the plans in May during an interview with The Sunday Times. At the time, he said Robbie’s version was in the works, and leading actor Johnny Depp, who played Captain Jack Sparrow in the franchise, was not part of the cast for any upcoming projects.
“Yes. We’re talking to Margot Robbie. We are developing two ‘Pirates’ scripts — one with her, one without,” Bruckheimer said of the franchise’s future. “[Will Depp be back?] Not at this point. The future is yet to be decided.”
The “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise brought in $1.5 billion domestically and $3.07 billion internationally since the first film’s debut in 2003. Depp became the face of the films and the most popular character, but the studio allegedly dropped him after his ex Amber Heard made public claims of abuse against Depp.
While Bruckheimer seemed open to Depp re-joining the cast in the future, the actor didn’t appear ready to forgive and forget anytime soon.
“Captain Jack Sparrow was a character I built from the ground up and was something that I, of course, put a lot of [myself] into the character and also having worked on these films with these people and added much of myself, much of my own re-writing of the dialogue and scenes and jokes,” he said, as The Daily Wire previously reported.
“I didn’t quite understand how, after that long relationship and quite a successful relationship certainly for Disney, that suddenly I was guilty until proven innocent,” he said.
Depp’s rep denied rumors that he was considering joining any upcoming “Pirates” projects. While Robbie’s version is likely not being made, there is still a chance that the other upcoming reboot written by franchise veteran Ted Elliott and “Chernobyl” creator Craig Mazin is still on the docket.
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