Captain Jack Sparrow may be condemned to Davy Jones’ Locker forevermore thanks to Disney dumping Johnny Depp, but the studio isn’t going to let a cash sea cow like the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise go to waste. The Mouse House is quietly pressing ahead with its long-gestating plans to make a sixth entry in the seafaring series, following 2017’s Dead Men Tell No Tales.
While we still don’t know too much about what they have in mind, long-term producer Jerry Bruckheimer has now offered one interesting update about the project. Bruckheimer, who’s been involved in every movie in the franchise since 2003’s The Curse of the Black Pearl, revealed to ComicBook.com that OG screenwriter Ted Elliot is currently punching up the screenplay for Pirates 6. As he said:
“I’ve very excited, it’s going to be terrific. We’re just working on the screenplay. One of the original writers, Ted Elliot, is helping write it. He has a great command of the characters.”
Elliot and former writing partner Terry Rossio penned the scripts for Curse and the first two sequels, 2006’s Dead Man’s Chest and 2007’s At World’s End. Elliot then exited the franchise, leaving Rossio to provide the story for 2011’s On Stranger Tides with Jeff Nathanson. Elliot then returned without Rossio for the fifth film, writing with Craig Mazin on that occasion.
There’s never been a Pirates movie made without the involvement of either Elliot or Rossio, then, so it’s probably only right that one of them should come back for the sixth installment. And maybe the lack of Jack will force the creative team to freshen things up instead of rehashing old characters and themes, which is what made Dead Men Tell No Tales so unsatisfying.
Remember, Pirates of the Caribbean 6 is being developed alongside a spinoff film which Margot Robbie is attached to produce, and very possibly star in. Fans aren’t wild about that one, but maybe this next mainline entry in the franchise can win them over instead.