Disney recently announced a sixth film in the highly successful Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. However, this one will be a reboot, and almost certainly will not feature Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow.

Good.

Disney parted ways with Depp during the trials surrounding domestic abuse allegations in his marriage with Amber Heard. In addition to the accusations that he had beat his ex-wife (which a British court found to be “substantially true”), workers on the fifth film, Dead Men Tell No Tales, said that Depp was constantly late and drunk on set, leading to numerous delays. Tardiness, drunkenness, and accusations of violence on set follow Depp wherever he goes, making him a liability for the family-friendly Disney franchise.

Many people can’t imagine a Pirates film without Captain Jack. He is literally the face of the series, representing the franchise in crossover media. Depp won an Oscar for the first film, though one could argue that had more to do with Depp being “due” an award denied to him for more impressive performances earlier in his career like Ed Wood.

That said, Captain Jack is definitely a side character. A memorable and amusing side character, no doubt, but a side character nonetheless. In the original trilogy, his entire purpose is to goad Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) on their personal hero’s journeys. Take this iconic scene from Curse of the Black Pearl.


Jack’s role in the story here is to make Will start to question his black and white sense of morality. This is a recurring theme throughout the original trilogy. We see the “lawful” British East India Company as slavers and murderers many times worse than the pirates themselves. Jack spurs Elizabeth to also abandon her genteel life specifically because it is a cage.

These are movies about two young lovers who learn to move past their imperfect social systems. Piracy, here, is less about pillaging and more about escaping, something backed up by historical record as many marginalized people and brutalized Navy sailors defected to the Jolly Roger to live better, queerer, and surprisingly socialist lives.

Jack was a catalyst for these emotional journeys, but he doesn’t really go on one himself. There’s not really much difference between who Jack is when we see him sail a sinking ship into port in the first film to him sailing away in the fifth. He doesn’t learn or grow much. His capacity for trust, kindness, betrayal, and mischief remains virtually the same mixture.

Compare him to Disney’s other prominent trickster, Loki, played by Tom Hiddleston in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There is an interstellar distance between Loki’s amusing if one-dimensional actions in Thor and becoming the benevolent God of Stories in Loki Season 2. Loki hits all the same beats for Thor (Chris Hemsworth) that Jacks does for Will and Elizabeth, but he grows with his brother while Jack stands still.

Frankly, Jack should have been retired long ago. There is a reason that On Stranger Tides and Dead Men Tell No Tales have such low Rotten Tomatoes scores. The more the franchise tried to use Jack as a crutch and a leading man, the less the character and Depp could stand up to the pressure. Jack is amusing. He is not interesting. There’s a difference.

Now, that fact has to be balanced against Depp’s degenerating behavior as an actor. It’s just not worth it to tell the same, stale jokes about rum. Maybe if Depp himself was less of a liability it would be worth a cameo, but if Pirates is going to be worth anything in the 2020s, it’s time to write a new face for the franchise.

Depp’s legal troubles and other shenanigans may be the best thing for Pirates. By taking off the licensed Captain Jack Sparrow training wheels, perhaps the sixth film could find its way back to being fresh and exciting as Black Pearl was in 2003. At this point, Jack is just dragging the series down.