Johnny Depp replaced by Ayo Edebiri in Pirates Of The Caribbean 6, says insider

It’s approaching eight years since Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales hit our screens - or Salazar’s Revenge, depending on where you live. While it’s by no means the best entry in the franchise, long-time fans - like me - would likely have been happy with the future it teased.

Before this film, Orlando Bloom’s Will Turner and Keira Knightley’s Elizabeth Swann hadn’t been seen since 2007’s At World’s End. Dead Men Tell No Tales marked both of their returns to the franchise, albeit in pretty small roles. Even still, Dead Men Tell No Tales, much like On Stranger Tides, failed to land with fans in the same way the original trilogy did, but a very juicy post credits scene signified that the franchise would soon be returning to its roots. It saw Will, now captain of the Flying Dutchman, asleep in bed with wife Elizabeth before cutting to a tentacled silhouette, clearly teasing the return of Davy Jones.

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I, myself, was thrilled. Will, Elizabeth, and Davy Jones back at the centre of the franchise? Yes please. The only issue is, Pirates of the Caribbean has fallen into total disarray since. Dead Men Tell No Tales was a story of two halves, the lowest-grossing film of the series in North America yet the highest-grossing in international territories, painting a complicated picture. Johnny Depp then became embroiled in his libel trial with ex-wife Amber Heard, pulling into question whether it was suitable for the actor to return as Sparrow.

Much has changed in Pirates of the Caribbean but Jack Sparrow has always remained a staple. It was then revealed that Margot Robbie had pitched an idea. It’s believed this would’ve been a spin-off, perhaps focusing on a fan-favourite character called Red featured in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. That too seemed to fall through the cracks though.

Despite all of this chaos though, Pirates of the Caribbean 6 is still thought to be in very early development, with a new lead perhaps having emerged. As reported by Yahoo, so-called insider Unlimited L’s took to Twitter to tease that The Bear star Ayo Edebiri was being eyed for the lead role with the soft reboot taking on a younger cast in search of hidden treasure. They added that the character is known as Anne, and could be based on real life pirate Anne Bonny.

As with any insider leaks, I’d advise you to take this all with a generous pinch of salt. Ayo Edebiri is positively fantastic though and if the franchise is going down the reboot route, I have no doubt that she’d be a stellar and charismatic new lead.