Many fans have been in Virginia to support Johnny Depp amid his ongoing defamation trial with ex-wife Amber Heard, offering praise and words of kindness for the actor as he comes and goes to the courthouse for the televised proceedings. During the trial, Depp explained that the “false allegations” against him made by Heard had cost him his role in the Pirates of the Caribbean films as Captain Jack Sparrow. He testified that he will never play the character in another movie again as a result.
While there are no plans for Depp to revisit the Jack Sparrow character for Pirates of the Caribbean 6, the actor has not put the character to bed entirely. He seems to carry Captain Jack with him wherever he goes, as a group of fans discovered in Virginia. In a video clip that’s gone viral, Depp can be seen in the back seat of a vehicle as various fans offer praise and support. One person tells Depp that he will always be Captain Jack Sparrow, and this prompted Depp to give her a response straight from the beloved pirate himself.
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“He’s still around somewhere. I see him now and again. He shows up now and again,” Depp says in Captain Jack’s voice, giving thanks to his fans just before the vehicle drives away.
The Spirit of Jack Sparrow Remains with Johnny Depp
Buena Vista Pictures
The bad news for fans wanting to see Johnny Depp in another film as Jack Sparrow is that there are no plans at this time for that to happen. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer recently confirmed that while there are two separate Pirates of the Caribbean screenplays in the works, neither have Depp attached. It is possible that Disney could invite Depp to return depending upon the outcome of the defamation trial, but even then, the odds are against Depp returning, as he has personally stated he cannot revisit that role, no matter how much money (and alpacas) Disney offered him.
“It was like somebody hit me in the back of the head with a 2x4,” Depp said during the trial of how the Disney firing felt. “Captain Jack Sparrow was a character I built from the ground up and was something that I, of course, put a lot of [myself] into the character and also having worked on these films with these people and added much of myself, much of my own re-writing of the dialogue and scenes and jokes. I didn’t quite understand how, after that long relationship and quite a successful relationship certainly for Disney, that suddenly I was guilty until proven innocent.”
He added, “My feeling was that these characters should be able to have their proper goodbye, as it were. A franchise can only last for so long and there’s a way to end a franchise like that and I thought that the characters deserved to have their way out, to end the franchise on a very good note. I planned on continuing until it was time to stop.”
