Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

[a picture release earlier this year of the film]

After the cast and crew of the fifth film 'On Stranger Tides' were told to not take on any work due to the producers wanting to shoot a fifth and sixth film back-to-back, film fans have been eager to know what exactly Jack Sparrow will be up to next.

Whilst promoting The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, Orlando Bloom indicated that the next Pirates of the Caribbean might serve as a reboot for the franchise, saying: "Basically they want to reboot the whole franchise, I think, and do something with me and the relationship with my son."

The film was initially planned by Disney to be released in 2015 but was delayed to 2016 and then further to 2017 due to issues with the script and the film's budget. Due to delay, the film is reportedly $70 million over the initial budget and is now set to enter cinemas around July 2017. 

The plot supposedly is that Captain Jack is faced by his enemy the ghost pirate, Captain Salazar and his crew of ghost pirates who are determined to kill every pirate alive after escaping the Devil's Triangle. Jack Sparrow must now search for the Trident of Poseidon - which gives the owner control over the seas - to use against Captain Salazar and protect the pirates once more. 

[a supposedly fan made poster]

The cast will be as follows:
Johnny Depp - Captain Jack Sparrow

Javier Bardem - Captain Salazar

Geoffrey Rush - Captain Hector Barbossa

Brenton Thwaites - Henry Turner

Lewis McGowan - young Henry

Kaya Scodelario - Carina Smyth

Orlando Bloom - Will Turner / Davy Jones

Kevin McNally - Joshamee Gibbs
Stephen Graham - Scrum
Martin Klebba - Marty
Giles New and Angus Barnett - Murtogg and Mullroy

The cast is said to also include Golshifteh Farahani, David Wenham, Adam Brown, Danny Kirrane and Delroy Atkinson. 

Kaya Scodelario said that the film "will have much more of the feel of the first film, the producers want to take it back to the beginning again. They wanted it to have this epic journey, and for it to make sense, and for it to tie things up, and also lead to new storylines.". She explained her character's role saying, "she is an academic, she's fighting for the right to study at university, because women couldn't at that time. So she's on her own journey - looking for the trident of Poseidon - and she has a diary with clues.". She was keen to express the difference between Carina and Elizabeth Swann, believing that she was not just another interpretation of the character. In early drafts of the script Scodelario's character appeared as Barbossa's daughter and was a love interest of Sparrow's alongside being an astronomer accused of being a witch.

Also, as anticipated, the character of Will Turner turned Davy Jones will be returning since his disappearance at the end of the third film. Orlando Bloom stated that he would love to portray his character outside of his usual role types as a hero: "I’m of course Davy Jones now, so I’m down the bottom of the ocean. It might be kind of fun to do something where I’m rumbling round the bottom of the ocean, because I won’t look anything like me."

Another new character that has been introduced is Henry Turner - Will and Elizabeth's son - who is trying to search for his father, Davy Jones and struggles to break a curse that is preventing him from doing so.

Geoffrey Rush (Barbossa) implied that his character might, once again, be returning as a villain in the film. He believes that Barbossa 'could explode in horrific ways', referring to Barbossa's personality traits that are mainly made up of megalomania (power hunger). Geoffrey Rush also stated that his character and Captain Jack are 'the heart of it and there's a whole new set of story lines.' showing that the plot lines have returned to being based around the rivalry and friendship of the two pirate captains.

Filming supposedly started late September 2014 in Australia, which was further confirmed by Disney in October 2014 when they stated that the film would exclusively take place in Queensland, Australia.  After a ninety-five day shoot, filming ended on 21 July 2015.

The film was first showcased at the Disney D23 Expo 2015 where Johnny Depp appeared in costume as Jack Sparrow and the film's logo was revealed.

"Everyone involved wants the script to be right and perfect. So we 

have gone on to do other things. We are still going to do the film together.

I enjoy them immensely. They are super talented. They have a great sense 

of humour. I think they have a really fun approach to what we are going to 

do with the next 'Pirates.' Very happily and proudly, I have welcomed taking 

part in the story and working directly with the screenwriter - he and I. It's 

working out really well that way. So I have high hopes for that 'Pirates 5' 

because if that's really the last one, which it probably is, I feel that we owe 

it to the audience who went and saw the films so many times. We’ll do 

it right and end it on a high note."

- Johnny Depp