Disney is pressing ahead with the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, but it won’t be continuing the story of previous movies. After his legal troubles and public controversies, Johnny Depp has been dropped and isn’t expected to be invited back to play Captain Jack Sparrow again. For a lot of fans, though, Depp is the franchise, so many aren’t happy about the thought of more Pirates without Sparrow.
And this new fanmade trailer imagines the film that fans would love to happen – a Pirates of the Caribbean 6 that follows on from 2017’s Dead Men Tell No Tales and brings back not just Sparrow but also Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley). This trailer pitches a sequel based around the return of Bill Nighy’s fan favorite villain Davy Jones, something that was teased – but is now destined not to be paid off – in the fifth film’s post-credits scene. With its use of Hans Zimmer’s iconic theme for the cursed captain, this trailer does a good job of reminding us of what folks love about these movies.
Disney’s got an uphill battle starting from scratch with new creatives and new stars, then. It seems they’ve decided that the best idea is to go down a female-led route as two separate projects are in the works, both centered around women pirates. Margot Robbie’s offering seems to be furthest ahead, with the Harley Quinn actress set to star and produce. This one is being counted as a spinoff, while Pirates 6 has been rumored to feature Karen Gillan in the lead.
As popular as both Robbie and Gillan are, Depp supporters are unlikely to welcome these new movies with open arms. Just a glimpse at the comments of the original video for this trailer, which comes from Smasher, shows how many fans are thinking about boycotting any future entries that don’t feature Jack Sparrow. Pirates of the Caribbean will continue, but we’ll have to see if upcoming films can match the popularity of the earlier ones.