Last year Johnny Depp was involved in a public court case with a British publication leaving his involvement with the future of the Pirates of the Caribbean series left up in the air. The American star’s position in the billion-dollar Disney series has not yet been commented on officially by the company, but things don’t look good. With the House of Mouse leaning on Disney Plus a lot more, could the future of the series lie in a TV show?
Disney has already moved its flagship franchises over to the streaming service.
Star Wars was the first to take the leap with the arrival of The Mandalorian, which went on to enjoy a critically acclaimed second season.
The series also had two spin-off shows announced – The Book of Boba Fett and Ahsoka – both of which are based on characters introduced in the Disney Plus show.
The Marvel franchise followed suit and began in earnest this year with WandaVision and Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
READ MORE: Pirates of the Caribbean: Johnny Depp films may risk being replaced
Last week the third Marvel series, Loki, began. All of the shows have been hugely successful thus far, with the first episode of Loki garnering more than 890,000 viewers (via Deadline).
Considering Pirates was one of the first Disney franchises to make more than $1 billion at the box office, it would make sense for the company to push the adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow over to the small screen.
However, he might not be involved in the project going forward.
The actor has not been a series regular in a TV show since his stint on 21 Jump Street in the 1980s.
Meanwhile, Harley Quinn actor Margot Robbie has confirmed she will be involved in the next Pirates of the Caribbean project – whatever it is.
With that said, translating the spectacle of Pirates of the Caribbean onto the small screen could prove difficult in a few ways.
The budgets of the film series are enormous – and with good reason.
Each film takes viewers on a high-stakes journey through the Caribbean on large ships and vast amounts of CGI.
Condensing that down into bite-size episodes could remove a lot of the magic behind the series.
Despite these reservations, Marvel have done well to maintain the quality behind Falcon and the Winter Soldier, WandaVision and Loki thus far, so fans of the franchise shouldn’t be too concerned.
The real concern is whether Jerry Bruckheimer will be able to bring Depp back onto the series.
Speaking out about the next Pirates project with Collider last year, he said: “We’re working on a draft right now and hopefully we’ll get it shortly and give it to Disney and hopefully they’ll like it. We don’t know. We’ve been working on it for a little bit.”
He added: “The one we’re developing right now, we’re not sure quite what Johnny’s role is going to be. So, we’re going to have to see.”
The Pirates of the Caribbean films are available to watch on Disney Plus now.
