The next Jack Sparrow could be a woman

Johnny Depp has said it repeatedly in recent years: his career is over. Ever since he and his ex-wife Amber Heard engaged in a long personal, judicial and media war, full of mutual accusations of violence and low blows, his name has ended up in oblivion, trashed by filmmakers and production companies. The same inauspicious fate has befallen one of his most famous characters, Captain Jack Sparrow, the wisecracking pirate he successfully played in the Pirates of the Caribbean saga. In the last few hours, however, it seems that the Disney franchise could return to the big screen with a new heroine who could be Margot Robbie. This was revealed by producer Jerry Bruckheimer who, interviewed by The Sunday Times, said he was in talks with the actress and added "We are developing two Pirates scripts – one with her, and one without."

Although Bruckheimer did not give further details, many speculate that this second version would be a sort of plan B, kept on standby, and could mark Depp's return if he wins the trial currently underway against Heard. This is only a theory, however far from becoming reality if one considers that Depp has declared that he would not want to reprise the role of Sparrow even for "all the money in the world", an opinion in the past shared even by Bruckheimer who, although he is open to an eventual cameo by the star, says that his return as the protagonist will happen "Not at this point. The future is yet to be decided."

More concrete and interesting is the project with Robbie that has been talked about since 2020. In June of that year, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Robbie would be starring in a spin-off of the franchise written by Christina Hodson, former screenwriter of Birds Of Prey, and all-female or, in Robbie's words, with "lots of girl power". It would be great to see Margot Robbie as a histrionic pirate leading a crew of powerful, funny and cool girls. Perhaps with the return of the saga's other two female leads, Keira Knightley and Penelope Cruz. What do you think?