Walt Disney PicturesSource material can come from everywhere. We live in a world where a mobile game can become an animated franchise, and a supposedly haunted doll can inspire a successful horror series. But perhaps the best example of making a lot with a little is Pirates of the Caribbean, the epic pirate fantasy series inspired by a Disney theme park ride. The Pirates movies were huge hits, but other ride adaptations didn’t find the same success. The Haunted Mansion, for example, was adapted twice in 20 years, and the first Pirates movie did better at the box office than both combined. Much of that success could be credited to the series’ now controversial star, and while it’s been eight years since the last Pirates movie, a franchise producer suggests there’s more to come — and that star will remain involved. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer remains confident Johnny Depp would return to the Pirates franchise. | Eric Charbonneau/ShutterstockPirates of the Caribbean seemed to reach a definitive end with the fifth movie, Dead Men Tell No Tales. A final scene involving legacy characters from the original trilogy suggested there may be more to come, but nothing ever materialized. A reboot from Deadpool writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick was briefly floated in 2016, but they soon left the project. A separate reboot was later announced with Margot Robbie attached to star, but that was canceled as well. The last glimmer of movement was Last of Us co-showrunner Craig Mazin revealing he co-wrote a “weird” script for yet another reboot in 2023, but nothing more has been said of it.Now, Pirates producer Jerry Bruckheimer is reviving the idea of a reboot, but attached to a name that’s both contentious and crucial to the series’ DNA: Johnny Depp. Depp sparked a million half-baked impressions and Halloween costumes when he played Captain Jack Sparrow, and Bruckheimer is convinced Depp could don the bandana yet again. “If he likes the way the part's written, I think he would do it,” Bruckheimer told Entertainment Weekly. “It's all about what's on the page, as we all know.”Would Disney bring back Captain Jack after Depp’s real-life controversies? | Walt Disney PicturesIt’s an odd suggestion considering Disney cut ties with Depp after allegations of abuse from his ex-wife, Amber Heard. Depp was also asked to leave his other big franchise role in the Fantastic Beasts series, but now Bruckheimer seems to suggest that Depp could be welcomed back into the fold. Johnny Depp’s career isn’t what it used to be — his only role in 2024 was as a gibberish-speaking puffin in an animated spinoff-of-a-spinoff movie, Johnny Puff: Secret Mission. Circumstances make it seem like he’d jump at the chance to revive Captain Jack. Whether Disney — and the viewing public — would accept him is another matter.