The fifth installment in Disney's juggernaut Pirates of the Caribbean franchise has an official subtitle: Dead Men Tell No Tales. The film is now under production in Australia.
As you might expect, Johnny Depp is returning as the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow, alongside a cast of old and new characters. Javier Bardem joins the crew as new villain Captain Salazar, and will also be joined by Kaya Scodelario (The Maze Runner, Skins), Brenton Thwaites (Maleficent, The Giver) and Golshifteh Farahani (Exodus: Gods and Kings). Returning to the franchise are Geoffrey Rush as Barbossa, Stephen Graham as Scrum and Kevin R. McNally as Joshamee Gibbs.
So what's in store for Jack Sparrow this go around? Like past installments, Dead Men Tell No Tales will feature numerous supernatural elements as Captain Salazar leads a ghost crew out for blood. You can read the official plot synopsis below:
Thrust into an all-new adventure, a down-on-his-luck Captain Jack Sparrow finds the winds of ill-fortune blowing even more strongly when deadly ghost pirates led by his old nemesis, the terrifying Captain Salazar (Bardem), escape from the Devil's Triangle, determined to kill every pirate at sea...including him. Captain Jack's only hope of survival lies in seeking out the legendary Trident of Poseidon, a powerful artifact that bestows upon its possessor total control over the seas.
The series has only gotten more fantastical with each film entry. While the original film revolved around an undead crew cursed by Aztec gold, the franchise has gone on to explore alternate realities like Davy Jones's locker and supernatural wonders like the Fountain of Youth. As Poseidon is the Greek god of the seas, it seems inevitable that he would be worked in the Pirates franchise sooner or later. After all, the films have already seen another Greek god (or demigod) in the form of Calypso. Hunting down Poseidon's trident to control the seas doesn't seem so out of the ordinary in that context.
If nothing else Javier Bardem should make for one fantastic pirate. Curiously, Disney is currently mum on a release date for the film. It's long been rumored for a summer 2017 release, but the studio has yet to comment. Expect more details, including a release date, in the coming months.
