Johnny Depp turned the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise into a multi-billion movie series, so fans believe that not having him on board is a bad idea.

Disney production chief Sean Bailey officially confirmed the removal of the actor from the franchise's future in 2018. The news shocked the fans, especially since Disney dropped him a few days after Heard published her op-ed in The Washington Post.

However, he offered a different reason, telling The Hollywood Reporter that: "We want to bring in new energy and vitality. I love the [Pirates] movies, but part of the reason (writers) 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."

With that, not having Depp reprise his role could ignite more negative effects instead.

Why "Pirates of the Caribbean" Needs Johnny Depp

In the past years, petitions about bringing Depp back to the franchise surfaced. Fans also warned about boycotting the next films if the original actor would not be part of it.

Unfortunately for Disney, the company might need to work harder for them to beat Depp's record-breaking box office sales as Captain Jack Sparrow. For what it's worth, he transformed it into a multi-billion franchise, hitting a billion mark thrice out of five movies.


The second film, "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" is the highest-earning movie while the last and fifth movie, "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales," secures the last spot. Still, the latter made an impressive run as it is only a few million shy of one billion.

With the petitions, it is clear that fans would play a huge role in the success of the next film -- if there would be any.

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Even Depp's co-star, Kevin McNally, believes that the actor plays the most essential and vital role in the franchise that it would not be the same without him.

"I think there was a general feeling that without Jack there is no Pirates franchise. And there's probably a lot of truth in that. But now there have been questions about that, certainly why not have other Pirate films and certainly then why not have Jack back or Jack playing a different part," he said.

Depp is currently in the middle of his legal battle against Amber Heard. It remains unknown whether he could get back his Captain Jack Sparrow role once he wins the current case.

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