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Johnny Depp could reprise his famed role as Captain Jack Sparrow in Disney’s “Pirates” franchise

Johnny Depp Pirates of the Caribbean
Credit: Disney

When the word “exhausted” comes to mind, so does the visage of Johnny Depp seated in a Fairfax County court in Virginia, drowning in a sea of rumors, insinuations, tabloid headlines, and the unrelenting cacophony of an ex-wife scorned because she failed at usurping control over another human being.

Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) runs away in 'Pirates' franchise

Credit: Disney

That 58-year-old man must literally be one of the most exhausted actors on planet Earth.

Johnny Depp‘s acting career began in 1984 with a small role in a Wes Craven film. It was his first acting gig, and it would be his last. “Gig,” that is. Immediately following the wrap-up of that project, Johnny Depp began to amass offers from Hollywood routinely, as execs noticed his acting talents coupled with his charm and good looks.

RELATED: Johnny Depp’s most prolific role just might be the one you never knew he played

pirates of the caribbean, captain jack sparrow (johnny depp, left), will turner (orlando bloom, right)

Credit: Disney

Surely scripts came to his proverbial front door in droves.

Almost immediately following the Craven film, Depp began work on the television series, 21 Jump Street, in which he had a standing role for three years. He quickly transitioned to preparing for his breakout role in Edward Scissorhands. It would be the beginning of his lifelong partnership with filmmaker and director Tim Burton. Depp was 27 years old, and his Hollywood career was exploding.

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Credit: Syfy

It would be 13 years before Disney fans could take in the tall glass of Johnny Depp in a role he literally created and conquered, in a film franchise inspired by a Disney Parks attraction dreamed up by Walt Disney himself.

Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise was the first-ever instance of a Disney attraction–one at Disneyland and at Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort–inspiring a film. (Usually it’s the other way around.) The film was expected to fail, but instead, it soared at the box office, leading to four more installments of the franchise which, to date, has earned close to $5 billion.

Johnny Depp Pirates of the Caribbean

Credit: Disney

And there’s plenty of demand for further installments.

But Disney has made the poor decision to participate in the cancel culture as it relates to Johnny Depp, despite the fact that the talented actor single-handedly sailed the franchise through “stranger tides,” indeed, having lent his talents to the creation of the franchise’s central character–and quite literally the reason fans keep coming back.

Captain Jack Sparrow is fully embodied in the actor Johnny Depp, and vice versa. But he’s been ordered to walk the plank as Depp’s ex-wife Amber Heard began spewing allegations of domestic abuse at the hands of her ex-husband Johnny Depp in 2016 (and by some accounts, earlier than that.)

Johnny Depp and Amber Heard Trial on Netflix

Credit: Netflix

The two are now entangled in an ugly defamation case, for which a trial is being played out in court in Virginia. And while Depp has yet to be formally named an offender concerning these abuse allegations, Disney among others has canceled the defamed Depp, tossing him overboard, as it were, with nothing more than hearsay and rumors as their reasoning.

It’s disgusting, egregious, and disappointing.

But sweet victory may still be within reach, thanks to Depp fans who continue to sign a petition at Change.org to reinstate the embattled Captain Jack Sparrow, insisting that a Johnny Depp return to the Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise would not only be a dream come true for fans but also the right and just and good thing to do.

The petition calls on Jerry Bruckheimer and The Walt Disney Company to reconsider their hasty and unfair decision and reads as follows:

Johnny Depp has been out recently as Captain Jack Sparrow. We don’t really know the real reason though.

He has been playing this role since 2003 when we first saw him arriving at the Port Royal in his boat with that epic background music playing.

But can you imagine no Jack Sparrow at all? No epic entry scores, no humorous dialogues and the guy with the most good and bad luck at the same time?

Don’t they know that without Johnny Depp or Jack Sparrow they will sink, they will never be able to reach that horizon?

Even if it means nothing to you but please, sign this petition for the ones who REALLY want Johnny Depp as their Captain of the Black Pearl!

They have to bring him back to rule the seas again, UNLESS it is the actor‘s own choice to withdraw from the role.

This Johnny Depp petition is on its way to amassing one million signatures, most of which have been earned in the short weeks since the defamation trial began on April 11. Sorry, Disney, Margot Robbie will not bring to the table what Johnny Depp has since 2003. Remember that total flop they awaited on the first Pirates installment? Mission accomplished.

Johnny Depp pIrates of the caribbean

Credit: Disney

A similar petition to the heads at DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. concerning Depp’s ex-wife Amber Heard is circulating on the same website. But the Amber Heard petition calls for the removal of Heard from her role as Princess Mera alongside actor Jason Momoa in the second installment of Aquaman.

As the trial draws to a close in the next weeks, it will be interesting to see how Disney responds to a win for Johnny Depp. In that case, it seems only right and fair that they apologize publicly for their haste and offer Depp back his role of a lifetime–and apparently, millions of fans agree.

About Becky Burkett

Becky's from the Lone Star State and has been writing since she was 10 and encountered her first Disney Park when she was 11. It was love at first Main Street Electrical Parade. Joy is blank lined journals, 0.7 mm pens, and all things Walt, Woody and Buzz, PIXAR, Imagineering, Sleeping Beauty (make it blue!), Disney Parks history and EPCOT. At Disney World, you'll find her croonin' with the birdies at the Enchanted Tiki Room or hangin' with Woody and the gang at Toy Story Land. If you can dream, you really can do it!