Johnny Depp won’t return as Jack Sparrow in The Pirates of the Caribbean.
During the ongoing $100million defamation trial against Amber Heard, actor Johnny Depp accused Heard of ruining his career by publishing an op-ed about their relationship.
While under questioning from his own lawyer, Depp admitted that Disney had dropped him from Pirates of the Caribbean 6 just days after the piece was published. And upon cross-examination, he was asked about a Daily Mail article that reported Depp was “out as Jack Sparrow”.
“I wasn’t aware of that, but it doesn’t surprise me,” he testified (via Variety). “Two years had gone by of constant worldwide talk about me being this wife beater. So, I’m sure that Disney was trying to cut ties to be safe. The #MeToo movement was in full swing at that point.”
A new Pirates of the Caribbean movie starring Margot Robbie has since entered development.
It’s unknown whether Depp would have starred alongside her in the upcoming movie, or whether this version of Pirates of the Caribbean 6 had been reimagined following Depp’s departure.
Depp’s ongoing lawsuit claims that his career has suffered irreparable harm when Heard penned an op-ed in the Washington Post which alluded to Depp while not identifying him by name. He argues that the piece is responsible for his career problems and not earlier allegations in 2016.
“I would be a real simpleton to not think that there was an effect on my career based on Ms. Heard’s words, whether they mentioned my name or not,” he said.
He also stated that his career was “done” from “the second the allegations were made”.
“Once that happened, I lost then,” he explained. “No matter the outcome of this trial, I’ll carry that for the rest of my days… I’m suing her over defamation and the various falsities that she used to bring my life to an end.”
However, Depp also confirmed that Disney continued to sell Jack Sparrow merchandise.
“They didn’t remove my character from the rides,” he said. “They didn’t stop selling dolls of Captain Jack Sparrow. They didn’t stop selling anything. They just didn’t want there to be something trailing behind me that they’d find.”
Despite Depp’s claims, he also confirmed that he would never return to Pirates of the Caribbean.
Cross-examiner Ben Rottenborn said: “The fact is, Mr. Depp, if Disney came to you with $300 million and a million alpacas, nothing on this earth would get you to go back and work with Disney on a Pirates of the Caribbean film? Correct?”
“That is true,” replied Depp.
It looks as though Captain Jack Sparrow’s days are numbered… and the franchise is likely to sail on without him. Especially now that Disney has a new reboot in the works.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
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