After the circus that was the Amber Heard v. Johnny Depp trial ended last month, there was speculation about what would be next for both parties — notably Depp. Would he return to his flailing movie career? Would he focus on his, um, music? Or would he somehow jump back into the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, as one petition gathering more than 800,000 signatures seemed to suggest. That last one was true for a few strange hours after an Australian news outlet reported a rumor that Depp was working on a return to Pirates of the Caribbean for close to $300 million. However, reps for the actors quickly shot it down. A rep for Depp said that talk of him reprising his role as Jack Sparrow on Pirates was “made up,†E! News reported. During the trial, Depp said under oath that he would not return to the successful Disney franchise. “If Disney came to you with $300 million dollars 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?†asked Heard’s defense attorney, Ben Rottenborn, during the trial. “That is true,†replied Depp.
Still, Depp is reprising another role of his. He is returning as Johnny Puffin for Puffins Impossible, an animated web series for Amazon Prime and Apple TV. In terms of roles not based in the Antarctic, Depp has been cast as King Louis XV in the French-language film Jeanne du Barry, with shooting to begin this summer. He’s slowly coming back into cinemas with or without a pirate’s ship.