Johnny Depp Reveals In Court He Won't Return To 'Pirates of the Caribbean' Franchise Even For $300M

Johnny Depp revealed in court that he will not be returning to the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise as Captain Jack Sparrow. He also added that there is nothing Disney can do to make him return.

When allegations of domestic abuse were made by Amber Heard against Depp and with the lawsuits that followed, Depp was removed from the Pirates of the Caribbean as well as from his role in the Fantastic Beasts sequel, The Crimes of Grindelwald. He had denied the allegations in the past as well and they separated after a settlement of $7 million.

During the cross-examination, he was questioned by his own attorney as well as Heard's about his departure from these big film franchises. “I wasn’t aware of that, but it doesn’t surprise me,” Depp said of how he was asked to leave Pirates of the Caribean. “Two years had gone by of constant worldwide talk about me being this wife-beater. So I’m sure that Disney was trying to cut ties to be safe. The #MeToo movement was in full swing at that point.”

Heard's attorney Ben Rottenborn asked, "The fact is, Mr. Depp, if Disney came to you with $300 million and a million alpacas, nothing on this earth would get you to go back and work with Disney on a Pirates of the Caribbean film? Correct?" Depp responded, "That is true, Mr. Rottenborn." He also explained how Disney had blocked him from the franchise but continued to use his character to still promote it. "They didn’t remove my character from the rides," he went on to say. "They didn’t stop selling dolls of Captain Jack Sparrow. They didn’t stop selling anything. They just didn’t want there to be something trailing behind me that they’d find."

When Disney exec Sean Bailey, was asked by The Hollywood Reporter in 2018 about the future of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise and if it could survive without Depp as Jack Sparrow, he responded, "We want to bring in a new energy and vitality. I love the [Pirates] movies, but part of the reason Paul [Wernick] and Rhett [Reese] are so interesting is that we want to give it a kick in the pants. And that’s what I’ve tasked them with," he said referring to hiring the Deadpool writers for the reboot of the franchise. 

In 2016, Heard had filed for a restraining order after alleging domestic abuse and the couple later filed for divorce. She penned the 2018 Washington Post op-ed in which she further wrote about the alleged domestic abuse without mentioning Depp by name. He filed a defamation suit against his ex-wife because "there was not a molecule of truth to it." He added, "I would be a real simpleton to not think that there was an effect on my career based on Ms. Heard’s words, whether they mentioned my name or not," and went on to address the current trial stating: "Once that happened, I lost then. No matter the outcome of this trial, I’ll carry that for the rest of my days… I’m suing her over defamation and the various falsities that she used to bring my life to an end."