Margot Robbie says her ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ spinoff was canceled by Disney

CNN
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It’s not a pirate’s life for Margot Robbie after all. The Oscar nominee said the “Pirates of the Caribbean” spinoff in which she was set to star has been canceled.

Robbie said work had stopped on the planned “Pirates” film because Disney didn’t want to move forward with it, according to her Vanity Fair cover story. She’d been working on the film with writer Christina Hodson, who penned the script for Robbie’s Harley Quinn flick, “Birds of Prey.”

“We had an idea and we were developing it for a while, ages ago, to have more of a female-led – not totally female-led, but just a different kind of story – which we thought would’ve been really cool, but I guess they don’t want to do it,” Robbie said, referring to Disney.

Robbie and Hodson were first attached to the project in June 2020, one of two planned “Pirates” films, the Hollywood Reporter said at the time. The film series’ producer Jerry Bruckheimer confirmed Robbie’s involvement as recently as May of this year.

The original “Pirates” film series was loosely inspired by the Disney theme park ride of the same name and starred Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow. Depp starred in all five, with Keira Knightley, Orlando Bloom and Geoffrey Rush in supporting roles. The films grossed more than $4.52 billion worldwide, per CNBC, making it one of the most successful film franchises of all time.

But reviews got progressively colder as the series went on, and as Depp’s public reputation suffered, so did the potential for future films starring Sparrow.

A reboot of the series (separate from the canceled Robbie-starring spinoff) has been in development since 2019, with original series screenwriter Ted Elliott and HBO’s “Chernobyl” creator Craig Mazin. Bruckheimer told the Times this year that Depp would likely not star in future “Pirates” films, though the “future is yet to be decided.”

Robbie, meanwhile, is leading another studio tentpole: Next year’s highly anticipated “Barbie” adaptation, directed by Greta Gerwig. She’s also set to star in an “Ocean’s Eleven” prequel that will reportedly also star Ryan Gosling.