Johnny Depp will not play Jack Sparrow in upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean reboot, confirms Disney producer

Johnny Depp will not return as his iconic character Captain Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Disney’s film production chief Sean Bailey has confirmed. [caption id=“attachment_3241244” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] File image of Johnny Depp. The Associated Press[/caption] In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Bailey was asked if the Pirates… reboot, to be written by Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, could survive without Depp. He replied, “We want to bring in a new energy and vitality. I love the [Pirates] movies, but part of the reason Paul and Rhett are so interesting is that we want to give it a kick in the pants. And that’s what I’ve tasked them with.” Reports that Depp would not be in the reboot surfaced in October during a red carpet interview in which the original film’s screenwriter, Stuart Beattie, called the star’s time on the franchise “a great run”. Depp, 55, has played the role of Sparrow in five films across 14 years, which have minted over USD 4.5 billion, making it the twelfth biggest franchise of all time. The most recent outing, Dead Men Tell No Tales, released in 2015. Depp was recently a part of  Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,  alongside Eddie Redmayne as magical zoologist Newt Scamander and Jude Law in his first outing as a young version of Hogwarts School headmaster Albus Dumbledore. (With inputs from Press Trust of India)