Pirates of the Caribbean: Robbie-led spinoff and sixth film

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer said this week that work is underway on new Pirates of the Caribbean films, with one project still attached to Margot Robbie and a long-gestating sixth installment also in development. Speaking at recent industry events, Bruckheimer said writers are revising scripts and that the franchise will move forward only when the screenplay is right, leaving the timing and casting of any new release unresolved.

"We're working on a script," Bruckheimer said, adding that at one point the team had two scripts and that one "kind of dropped out" while the other is being pursued. He confirmed that Robbie remains attached to a female-led spinoff that was announced years ago. Veteran writer Ted Elliott, who co-wrote much of the original series, has contributed to the current sixth-film draft and other writers have been brought in to revise and fill in outstanding sections.

Bruckheimer warned that the franchise is difficult to relaunch and that a finished script is a prerequisite for production. "If we don't have it on the page, it's not gonna get on the screen," he said, describing the film world of Pirates as "so cool and specific" and requiring the right way in. He...