Pirates of the Caribbean 6 Update: Jack Sparrow’s Son? Margot Robbie Still Involved? Let’s Talk!
With Disney under new leadership, we’re getting several updates about upcoming films or films that have been in development for a while. Yesterday, the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise got an interesting update for a possible sixth film. Do I like the update? Let’s talk about it!
My Thoughts: This is not confirmed by the major trades or somebody at Disney. But independent film journalist, Jeff Sneider revealed in his newsletter some significant updates on the sixth film in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. What did he reveal? First up, the story revolves around Jack Sparrow’s son. Second, Margot Robbie will be playing a new character here. Third, Krysty Wilson-Cirnes is writing the script, who previously wrote 1917 with her script being nominated for an Oscar. So, let’s break all of this down!
Jack Sparrow’s Son
This is the big piece to talk about here, Jack Sparrow’s son being the main focus point for this story. What do I think about it? If this is the case and Pirates of the Caribbean 6 is focused around Jack Sparrow’s son, then I’m nervous and they need to win me back with a good trailer and good story to justify this. Even in this report it’s a bit unclear as to whether or not Johnny Depp is returning. I’ve seen a few different reports as to why Depp may or may not be involved. The first one is Disney is concerned about the budget, they don’t want the budget to be massive and having Johnny Depp return will require a massive paycheck. The other one I’ve heard is that it’ll depend on whether or not Depp likes the script. I love The Curse of the Black Pearl, that original film is one of my favorite movies and blockbusters of all time. I’ve seen the movie countless times over the years. And it’s probably my mom’s family’s favorite movie of all time. Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow is fantastic casting that my entire love adores. With that said, I think the franchise needs to move away from Jack Sparrow. Jack Sparrow is a great spice character. You add him in scenes here and there and he makes the movie better. But he was never the lead of the first three films. The Curse of the Black Pearl is about Will Turner getting Elizabeth Turner back and Jack Sparrow goes along for the ride. After Orlando Bloom and Kiera Knightley left the franchise they turned Jack Sparrow into the lead. On Stranger Tides and Dead Men Tell No Tales are the worst films in the Pirates franchise. The reason for that is they made Jack Sparrow the lead. He’s a fun character but he’s also a character that you don’t want to know much about. You don’t want to know his backstory or why he is the way that he is. The fact that they took him and made him the lead, it lost what made him such a fun character in The Curse of the Black Pearl.
The reason why I’m saying all of this is because I’m worried that with the film focusing around Jack Sparrow’s son that’ll continue down the path of On Stranger Tides and Dead Men Tell No Tales and dive deep into Jack Sparrow. One of the common tropes that Disney has been doing recently is deconstructing their beloved heroes, most notably Luke Skywalker and Indiana Jones. In both cases there’s interesting ideas in there but they’re not presented in the best way. I’m afraid they’re going to do that with Jack Sparrow and I thought that could ruin the franchise and the character.
Margot Robbie’s Inclusion
So the other piece of news that dropped related to this is that Margot Robbie is likely going to star in the film as a new character. This is interesting because they’ve been talking about doing a full blown Pirates of the Caribbean reboot with Robbie for years. With the firing of Johnny Depp and the future of the franchise uncertain Robbie was attached to both produce and star in a reboot of Pirates of the Caribbean. Based on this it sounds like Robbie will be starring in the film which could combine the concept of a sixth film and a reboot with Robbie into one film. I really like Margot Robbie, I think she’s a great actress and movie star. She knows how to lead big blockbusters like this so her inclusion makes me excited because I know she’ll do a good job. This will sort of lead into the next idea about this project in general…
Pirates of the Caribbean can work WITHOUT Jack Sparrow
Ever since there’s been a debate about whether we’re getting Pirates of the Caribbean 6 or a reboot with Margot Robbie, I’ve always supported the idea of a Margot Robbie lead reboot. I think Gore Verbinski’s two sequels, Dead Man’s Chest and At World’s End are ambitious, solid, but deeply flawed films. None of the sequels have come close to capturing the magic of the original. I’ve thought that this franchise needs to start over and move away from Jack Sparrow.
There’s a group of people on the internet that say no Depp no Pirates. Basically, don’t do Pirates of the Caribbean without Johnny Depp. I disagree with that, I think the franchise can work. The franchise doesn’t revolve around Jack Sparrow there’s different stories and adventures you can tell that are disconnected from Jack Sparrow and everything that came before. Also, Depp is 62 years old. Playing the drunk pirate at 62 seems a bit weird, he should retire from that. I think the shtick just gets sad when he’s the age of a grandpa. I’m bummed that they’re combining both the ideas for a reboot and a sixth film into one, I think the franchise would’ve worked with a full blown reboot. A new ensemble of characters totally disconnected from everything that came before. But I do think there is some fear in Disney’s point of view of what the audience is going to think about doing Pirates of the Caribbean without Johnny Depp and the amount of frustration that would come with that.
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