Johnny Depp fans were incredibly disappointed when it was announced that Depp would not be returning as Jack Sparrow for the next Pirates of the Caribbean film. The actor helped maintain the film franchise’s popularity over the years, which even boosted Disney’s credibility before they grew their Marvel Cinematic Universe or acquired Star Wars. As such, it’s more than a little difficult to imagine the franchise moving forward without Johnny Depp returning as Jack Sparrow. Thus, fans have since launched a petition to see Johnny Depp reprise his role as Jack Sparrow for the next Pirates of the Caribbean film.
It’s currently unclear how the franchise will be moving forward, although one such project will feature actress Margot Robbie as a new original character. The other project that’s been rumbling in development would be a more direct sequel, albeit one without Depp. This is tricky because, as stated above, Johnny Depp has been one of the key parts of the franchise since its early beginnings. Unfortunately, after various legal issues with his ex-wife actress Amber Heard, Johnny Depp is being blacklisted by most of Hollywood. Meaning, Disney likely isn’t going to just hire him back.
But fan demand has shown that they’d still love to see Johnny Depp back as Jack Sparrow, and the following petition is proof. It’s already reached over 500,000 signatures, and it’s steadily making its way to the next goal of 1 million. Here’s one excerpt from the petition at Change.org which has fans from all over signing their names in support:
“Can you imagine no Jack Sparrow at all? No epic entry scores, no humorous dialogues and the guy with the most good and bad luck at the same time? Don’t they know that without Johnny Depp or Jack Sparrow they will sink, they will never be able to reach that horizon.”
While it doesn’t seem likely that the petition will abruptly make Disney change their minds about refusing to hire Depp, it does show how many fans would still love to see the actor come back. Nevertheless, we’ll just have to wait and see what’s in store for the franchise at this point. There are several avenues that Disney will be exploring, so we’ll see which ones work out – and whether or not they’ll be as successful as the original film franchise starring Johnny Depp.