What Johnny Depp said about Disney return

Johnny Depp is returning to the spotlight, and how! The embattled actor emerged victorious in his defamation suit against ex-wife Amber Heard and has now reportedly been approached by Disney to reprise his role as Captain Jack Sparrow in the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean‘ franchise. 

As per the Australian pop culture gossip site Poptopic.com, Depp has been offered $301 million or Rs 2535 crore to resume the iconic part. However, there’s no information from the actor’s camp about whether he’s returning to the franchise. 

If Depp’s statements during the trial are to be taken into account, the chances of his return seem slim. He confirmed to Heard’s lawyer, Ben Rottenborn, that he wouldn’t play Sparrow even if Disney offered him “$300 million and a million alpacas”. 

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While the 59-year-old might not wish to return to Disney, he’s started charting his way back to the spotlight. In recent times, Depp took to the stage with Jeff Beck, wowing audiences with his musical talents. The actor also joined TikTok, where he has been showered with love from fans. 

Disney, for its part, wanted to revitalize the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ franchise and plans to cast a female lead in the coming movie, with Margot Robbie in the running. 

With Depp, the ‘Pirates’ franchise was a success and won the actor his first Academy Award nomination. However, Depp hasn’t seen the first instalment. He said, “But I believe that the film did pretty well, apparently, and they wanted to keep going, making more and I was fine to do that”. 

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Depp had been dropped from the franchise, soon after Heard’s op-ed came out on The Washington Post, all but naming Depp for sexual abuse. The franchise distanced itself from the actor – a fate similar to what Depp faced with ‘Fantastic Beasts’ dropping him and taking on Mads Mikkelsen to play Grindelwald. 

However, a court in Fairfax, Virginia ruled in Depp”s favour that Heard’s op-ed amounted to defamation and instructed the ‘Aquaman‘ actor to pay $10.5 million in damages.