Johnny Depp is in talks for Pirates of the Caribbean 6, and Jerry Bruckheimer said the screenplay is being worked on. That keeps one of Disney’s biggest live-action franchises active after five films and $4.5 billion worldwide.
Bruckheimer said at D23, “we’re talking with Johnny [Depp], we’re working on a screenplay, and hopefully we can get this done.” For a franchise that has not released a film since 2017, that is the clearest sign yet that the project has moved beyond loose chatter.
D23 and Jerry Bruckheimer
The producer’s update matters because it pairs two separate steps that have to move together: the script and the casting. A screenplay being worked on means the film is still being shaped, while talks with Depp show the studio-facing side of the project is not being treated as closed.
Dead Men Tell No Tales was released in 2017 and finished as the lowest-grossing film in the series, with $795.9 million worldwide. Even at that level, the franchise’s five movies have still generated $4.5 billion worldwide, which is why any new installment is being treated as a major commercial decision rather than a nostalgia exercise.
Margot Robbie and Jack Sparrow
Deadline said separate sources described the next film as focusing on Margot Robbie’s protagonist, with Captain Jack Sparrow as a side character. That setup complicates the clean version of the story in which Depp simply returns as the center of the series, and it suggests the next film may be built as an evolution rather than a full reset.
Bruckheimer’s own wording leaves the project in the middle ground that studios often use before a cast decision hardens into a deal. Fans and business watchers can read that as one practical takeaway: the screenplay is moving, Depp is being discussed, and the franchise is being positioned to broaden beyond a Jack Sparrow-only structure.
Whether Johnny Depp ultimately joins Pirates of the Caribbean 6 is still the decision that will define the film’s shape. Until that lands, the key signal is the same one Bruckheimer gave at D23: the movie is being actively developed, not shelved.
