Last we saw of the Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise, it was streamlining itself after the unwieldy original trilogy and heading into standalone waters for 2011's On Stranger Tides. Only Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow and Geoffrey Rush's Barbossa remained from the earlier instalments, making OST a reboot of sorts. But that may change for the developing fifth movie, Dead Men Tell No Tales. Orlando Bloom has revealed that there are discussions underway about him returning to the series.
"I'm not entirely sure that [I'll be back] just yet," Bloom told IGN while on the publicity trail for The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies, "but there are talks. Basically they want to reboot the whole franchise, I think, and do something with me and the relationship with my son."
[Spoilers for Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End follow.]
"I’m, of course, Davy Jones now," he continues, "so I’m down at the bottom of the ocean. It might be kind of fun to do something where I’m rumbling round the bottom of the ocean, because I won’t look anything like me. (Gestures to face) Get all gnarly."
Itself designed to kick off the series afresh, On Stranger Tides was no more critically loved than the other Pirates sequels, although it comfortably joined the billion dollar club at the worldwide box office.
Bloom's possible return suggests behind-the-scenes pondering about what people loved about the series in the first place (aside from Depp). Reintroducing him might seem a retrograde step, but he's right in that putting him in something like the Bill Nighy CG makeover could be fun. It would also presumably mean that Dead Men Tell No Tales would take place chronologically before At World's End's post-credits scene.
That's all clearly still in flux at this point, however. What we do know about Dead Men Tell No Tales is that Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg (Kon-Tiki) are directing, and the screenplay has seen work from Jeff Nathanson (Tower Heist, Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull).
Depp is, of course, back as Captain Jack; Brenton Thwaites is a dashing British soldier; Rush is rumoured to still be aboard; and Christoph Waltz and Javier Bardem have been approached to play the new villain, the murderous ghost pirate Captain Brand.
Shooting is set to kick off in Australia early next year, so expect all these details to firm up shortly. PIrates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales currently has a release date of July 7, 2017.