There are many Johnny Depp fans who aren’t giving up just yet on the idea of seeing him back as Captain Jack Sparrow. As of now, Depp is in the midst of a defamation trial after suing ex-wife Amber Heard for $50 million, arguing that she’d fabricated abuse claims that had gotten him fired by Disney from the Pirates of the Caribbean series. According to Depp, there had been some talks with Disney about Pirates of the Caribbean 6, but those talks stopped when Heard wrote an op-ed in 2018 describing herself as a survivor of domestic abuse.

Fans were hoping to convince Disney to bring back Depp for another Pirates film by launching a petition on Change.org demanding his return. The actor’s new trial has brought some renewed attention to the petition, and many new signatures have been getting added since the trial started. As of this writing, the petition has topped 285,000 signatures, and new names are continuously popping up as that number keeps rising.

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You can read a portion of the petition description below, and you can add your name if you desire by heading to Change.org.

“Johnny Depp has been a phenomenal actor throughout his career. Depp was removed from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean by Walt Disney’s Company. This unfortunately is due to his ex wife Amber Heard lying and stating that Depp beat her. It has been proven that he did not hit her, but yet, that she beat on him repeatedly. She hit him with pots and pans 24/7 as if that was okay. This may come as a joke to some, but abuse towards a man or woman is not to be taken lightly. Now that this has come to light, Johnny Depp still has not been redeemed of this false news… If you were falsely accused of something you did not do, then there’s proof you didn’t do it and you still were treated like a bad person, wouldn’t you want Justice??”

Will the Petition Help Bring Back Jack Sparrow?

     Buena Vista Pictures

Even if Disney decides to move forward with Pirates of the Caribbean 6 with Johnny Depp, the issue is that the actor may no longer be interested. During his trial, he said that he felt “betrayed” when Disney fired him after he had put in so much of himself into bringing Jack Sparrow to life in five separate films. Depp felt that the character deserved to have a “proper goodbye” for the fans rather than getting the rug pulled out from under him.

And this feeling of betrayal has currently left him unwilling to return to the Disney fold anytime soon. He was asked on the stand by Amber Heard’s attorney if it was true that he would never return to Disney even if they offered him “$300 million and a million alpacas.” To that, Depp confirmed that, yes, “that is true.”

This is also not the only petition to find new life thanks to the trial. A separate petition had called for Warner Bros. to remove Amber Heard from the upcoming superhero sequel Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. This is largely because Warner Bros. kept Heard on board while asking Depp to resign from his role in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, and many observers feel that this is unfair. That petition has surpassed 2.2 million signatures after gaining new traction amid the legal battle.