‘Pirates Of The Caribbean’ Reboot, Plus A Spinoff With Margot Robbie Both Still In The Works, Says Jerry Bruckheimer

There have been hot and cold reports about the future of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise over the past few years. Some had a reboot happening with an entirely new cast, others a female-centric film with Margot Robbie. Now, Jerry Bruckheimer is setting the record straight.

“It’s two different movies,” Bruckheimer says. The reboot has Jeff Nathanson doing the script with the Robbie-centric film being written by Christina Hodson, according to Entertainment Weeklywhich caught up with the producer. “We hope to get ’em both made, and I think Disney agrees they really want to make the Margot one, too.”

The Last of Us creator Craig Mazin worked on a story for the sreboot with original screenwriter Ted Elliot. Mazin told the L.A. Times that their script was very weird and that Disney seemed to like it. But the project stalled because of the strikes last year.

Now, it seems, Nathanson is working on the script, and Bruckheimer likes what he sees, at least the ending.

“I think he’s cracked it,” said the producer. “He’s got an amazing third act. We just gotta clean up the first and second and then we’ll get there. But he wrote a great, great third act.”

As for the Robbie project, the actress told Vanity Fair in 2022, “We had an idea and we were developing it for a while, ages ago, to have more of a female-led — not totally female-led, but just a different kind of story — which we thought would’ve been really cool, but I guess they don’t want to do it.”

Not so, says Bruckheimer, though he did not provide the same level of detail for the spinoff starring the Barbie actress.

As for the involvement of the franchise’s biggest name in the reboot, Bruckheimer indicated that film would feature new actors. He did not close the door on the idea.

“It’s a reboot, but if it was up to me, he would be in it,” said the producer of Johnny Depp. “I love him. He’s a good friend. He’s an amazing artist and he’s a unique look. He created Captain Jack.”