Petition to bring Johnny Depp back to ‘Pirates Of The Caribbean’ almost reaches its goal

A good news for the Johnny Depp fans. The petition to bring back Depp in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise to play Captain Jack Sparrow is approaching its goal of 500,000 signatures.

After Johnny Depp and Amber Heard settled their divorce, life was not fair towards Depp, his fans claimed. The litigation has continued in various forms. The most recent ruling against Depp in the UK prompted WB to ask Depp to resign from Fantastic Beasts 3, and industry insiders have said that it's challenging to work with Depp given the events.

Johnny Depp.

Disney reportedly blocked Depp from returning to the franchise, but fans started a petition on Change.org, calling for Depp to be reinstated as Jack Sparrow in the proposed sixth Pirates of the Caribbean film.

The petition has a target of 500,000 signatures, and, as of this writing, it is just short of that goal with 489,932 signatures and counting.

More than two years ago, the petition was launched and has seen spikes in interest as Depp continues to make headlines. Needless to say, that's a lot of people who care enough about Pirates of the Caribbean and Johnny Depp to sign the petition. On the one hand, it's unlikely that such a move will actually sway Disney to change its mind on this topic. At the same time, a petition of this size also will presumably not go entirely unnoticed by the House of Mouse.

Depp originated the role of Jack Sparrow in the 2003 film Curse of the Black Pearl. Depp went on to play Jack Sparrow in four more movies based on the iconic ride at Disney World. The franchise's fifth film, Dead Men Tell No Tales, came out in 2017 and received mixed reviews from critics on its way to make nearly $800 million worldwide.

The Pirates franchise has always been a hit at the box office and while a number of unique features have contributed to that successful run over the years, there's no denying that Johnny Depp is the glue that ends up holding it all together every time.  But amid Depp's defamation lawsuit Disney announced that they didn't intend to bring the star back for another installment, deciding instead to give the series a soft reboot with another actor at the helm.

Now, in light of the new evidence as part of Depp's defamation lawsuit against Heard that exposed her for physically and emotionally abusing him during their time together, fans are banding up and asking for justice. It's also interesting to note that the petition to remove Amber Heard from Aquaman 2 is on its way to hit the next target of 500,000 signatures.